The Next Generation 2: Secrets of the Mind
by S-Drama-Queen-17
Summary: COMPLETE Elizabeth Potter is back for her second year at Hogwarts. With Squib lessons, a mysterious book, and three cousins she never knew she had, Liz has a lot on her plate this year.
1. Many, Many Letters

Chapter 1 – Many, Many Letters  
  
A sweltering haze lay on the houses of a street. The air shimmered not two feet away from everyone, if they were stupid enough to come outside and look. Inside one of the houses, basking in the glory of an air conditioner, sat a tiny girl with blonde hair and blue eyes called Elizabeth Potter.  
  
People said she looked like her mother, but Liz didn't know for sure. Her mother was dead, or so people thought. Elizabeth, or Liz as she was more commonly called, had received letters from her and believed she was alive. How could a dead person send mail? Her father was dead, too, so she lived with her adoptive family, a nice normal family, the Smiths.  
  
A year ago, the earth as Liz knew it shattered around her when she got a letter carried by an owl. An owl, no less. It had said she had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The she had learned all the true facts about her life, about her parents' deaths (her father had come home one evening to find her mother dead, and then he disappeared), her powers, and her school. The school year had been chaotic, to say the least, but in the end it was Liz who saved the day.  
  
Right now, Liz was writing a letter to one of her best friends, Rachel Yates. Rachel was half-blood (her mother was a witch and her father was a Muggle) and had two little sisters, Carla and Theresa. They were ten.  
  
Dear Rachel,  
How is your summer going? Mine is going fine. The only problem is Emma. Urgh. I've already completed all my summer assignments. How about you? I hope you're doing great. Please owl me back.  
  
Liz  
  
"Come here, Luna," she called softly to her owl. It hooted, fluttered over to her, and alighted on a bedpost. Liz rolled up the scrap piece of parchment and attached it to Luna's leg. Luna hooted again and soared away through the window. Liz sighed and reached for her wand. She didn't want to do magic; on the contrary, it was strictly forbidden of underage witches and wizards to perform magic over the summer.  
  
But her wand wasn't in her upper left-hand desk drawer where she kept it. Liz rummaged through it, and then she proceeded to do the same to the rest of her drawers. After that, she sat and thought, and one particular thought struck her. "No," she told herself. But a sound came from the next room, a sound like a long wooden stick being smashed on something, and a small yelp followed.  
  
Liz raced out of her room and to Emma's. Her adoptive sister had her wand and was beating it against her knee. Each time she tried, it sparked and caused Emma's hand and knee to blister. Still, she kept on trying to snap it in two, but the wand was putting up a remarkable fight.  
  
"Give that back! It's mine!" Liz shrieked, grabbing her wand.  
  
"No, you freak!" Emma cried out, tugging on the other end.  
  
The struggle continued until Mrs. Smith entered the room and broke them up. "She was deliberately trying to snap my wand!"  
  
"Freak," Emma muttered under her breath.  
  
"Emma, dear, I've told you about this."  
  
Liz turned away. Emma would just get a stern talking-to, nothing more. The Smiths couldn't bear to really punish either of their daughters, adopted or no. Liz wished they would have the guts to punish Emma. She had made Liz's life miserable ever since Liz had gotten her letter from Hogwarts. Before that, the two had been best friends. Now Emma was at Liz's throat.  
  
Liz took the wand back to her room and checked it over for any damage. There was none. Amazing, really. It must have been especially sturdy. She polished it with a wand-care kit she had bought at Diagon Alley the previous year.  
  
Diagon Alley. She needed to go after she got her supply list. And the then the school year would begin again. She couldn't wait to go back.  
  
A large, resonating hoot echoed from far away. Liz's head automatically snapped toward the window. A large tawny owl shot through the window, bearing a letter with the Hogwarts coat of arms. Liz took it and opened it up.  
  
Dear Miss Potter,  
We are pleased to notify you that you second year is approaching. Term begins on September 1st. Your supply list and your train ticket are enclosed.  
  
Minerva McGonagall  
  
Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry  
  
Liz grinned. It was here. She should owl Michael and ask if he and his parents could take her to Diagon Alley. If only she hadn't sent Luna to Rachel...  
  
But here was Luna, flying back to her. She was still a distance off. Was something wrong? As the owl came closer, Liz could see that it was not her owl, but she recognized it. It was the owl, a large version of her tiny snow owl, that brought letters from Liz's mother, Luna. The one Liz still believed to be alive.  
  
The owl dropped the letter and took off. Fingers trembling, Liz picked it up and ripped it open. A piece of parchment fell out, and sure enough, it was in her mother's handwriting.  
  
Dear Elizabeth,  
You're starting your second year! How exciting. I remember my second year. The summer before, a notorious criminal named Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban. It turned out that he was your father's godfather. I met him...well, not really. I saw him once. It was right before he died. But that was in my fourth year, two...no, it was in the summer after, so it was about three years after. Anyway, have a nice year, dear.  
Love, your mother,  
Luna  
  
Even though Liz had read all about Sirius Black and even that, when her father was about sixteen, it had been revealed that he was his godfather, it felt a lot more important hearing it from her mother. She hadn't had a letter from Luna since her birthday in March.  
  
Thinking about her mother forced her to think about the lies she had told Rachel and Michael. They wouldn't believe her unless there was proof. And the letters could be denied as proof.  
  
Liz's kitten, Sunny, purred and curled around her legs. Liz picked her up, placed her in her lap, and stroked her, thinking. Mostly about her mother, but some about her best friends. Rachel was at her home with her parents and her sisters. Michael was wherever he lived with his mother, Hermione Weasley, a teacher of Transfiguration at Hogwarts; his father, Ron Weasley; and his older sister, Jessica, an almost perfect replica, though smaller, of her mother. Michael was the same way with his dad.  
  
But then she thought about Chris and how his summer was probably going. Chris Scott was a Squib, a person who was born to magic people but couldn't do magic. Ashamed, his parents had disowned him and sent him to live with and help Hagrid, Hogwarts's elderly gamekeeper. He hadn't seen his parents since he was eight or nine. Liz couldn't imagine having parents who hated her because she was different; then again, she supposed many people couldn't imagine having parents who were at least presumed dead. Chris didn't spend his summer studying and writing to his friends. He probably spent it chasing after some of Hagrid's illegal breeding experiments.  
  
Frustrated with the way thinking distraught her, Liz picked up a book from her bookshelf, flipped to a random page, and began to read.  
  
Harry Potter was born on July 31, 1980. On October 31, 1981, Voldemort attacked his house and killed his parents, James and Lily Potter. In 1991, Harry Potter began his term at Hogwarts. During the summer of 1995, Voldemort, Harry Potter's arch nemesis, returned from hiding. Through media and political misunderstanding, this information did not reach the public until a year later. In the summer of 1998, Harry Potter defeated Voldemort once and for all.  
  
Liz frowned and looked at the heading of the article. "HARRY POTTER- SYNOPSIS-1980-1998." Of course. Almost every book she owned at least mentioned her father. Her mother had been mentioned briefly. That bothered Liz. Her mother had been just as important as her father, if not more. She had kept up his spirits, probably. She imagined that he had been pretty stressed when he met her. Maybe she could ask the Weasley adults when she saw them. Where was that Luna owl when she needed her? Taking a letter to her other best friend. Maybe she would get two owls.  
  
As if on cue, Michael's owl, George, perched on the windowsill. It waved its leg upon which a letter was attached. Liz hurriedly unattached it and read.  
  
Dear Liz,  
We've going to Diagon Alley on Friday. Send George back ASAP if you want to come. If so, we'll pick you up at eleven on Friday. Why are you still reading? WRITE!  
  
Michael  
  
Liz tore a piece of parchment off the bottom, hastily scribbled, "YES, I'M COMING. SEE YOU THEN, LIZ," and attached it to George. "Go! Go take it to Michael!" she urged. "It's Thursday today!"  
  
The owl hooted, looking disgruntled, and took off. Liz watched it go with no small satisfaction. 


	2. Secrets of the Mind

Chapter 2 – Secrets of the Mind  
  
The next day, the doorbell rang. "I'LL GET IT!" Liz called. "It's my friends, Mum. The ones that came last year?"  
  
"Oh, I remember them," Mrs. Smith replied. "They're very nice people. You said you're shopping for school supplies?"  
  
"Michael! How's your summer? How've you been?" Liz said after she flung the door open with enough force to undo the hinges.  
  
"Pretty good. You?" Michael asked. He had grown two or three inches over the summer.  
  
"Wow, you got tall!" Liz said, craning her neck to see his head.  
  
"Really? I thought you shrank," he teased with a grin. "Wow, I really am tall."  
  
"Hello, Liz!" Jessica said, entering. "I still can't believe you live with Muggles, wow..."  
  
"Hello, Professor...Mrs.....uh..."  
  
"You can call me Mrs. Weasley until term starts," Michael's mother responded. "I should want to have a chat with your parents, make sure they're all right with us taking you for today—"  
  
"Oh, they're fine," Liz put in eagerly.  
  
"No, I really should—"  
  
"Liz is right, Hermione, we really ought to be going," Mr. Weasley called from outside. "It's hard to hold four brooms at once—"  
  
"Brooms?" Liz gasped, stricken. Her one and only experience with brooms had been disastrous.  
  
"I tried to tell Dad, but he wouldn't listen," Michael told her. "He says you can ride on the back of my broom."  
  
Liz whimpered, unconvinced. She was dangerous on broomstick, whether she was steering or not. "B—bye, Mum," she called halfheartedly. She'd rather walk.  
  
Still, she clambered on behind Michael when they got outside. Mrs. Weasley came around and tapped each of them on the head, putting a Disillusionment Charm on them. Then she performed the spell on herself, and they were ready to fly.  
  
"Up, up, and away!" Michael yelled as they kicked off.  
  
"Shut it, someone will hear you!" Jessica scolded, whacking her brother in the face with the tail of her broom (at least that's what Liz supposed; they were all invisible at the time). "Don't you think a disembodied voice will be a little conspicuous?"  
  
"Gets more like your mother every day, son," Liz heard Mr. Weasley's voice say.  
  
After a quite enjoyable ride with no unpredicted bumps, bruises, or falls, they landed before a tiny shop in London. Once inside, Liz blinked. Why in the world were they here, of all places? It was a shady sort of pub, and all the customers leered at them unpleasantly. But Michael and Jessica seemed unperturbed.  
  
"What is this place?" Liz asked, sticking close.  
  
"It's the Leaky Cauldron. The only entrance to Diagon Alley if you don't use Floo powder," Michael answered.  
  
"Maybe next year we can stick to Floo powder?" she squeaked hopefully.  
  
By then they had reached the other end of the building, if you could call it that. As they crouched and came through a small opening, they found a solid brick wall with a tired, rusting trashcan in front of it.  
  
"Maybe we took a wrong turn," Liz helped.  
  
But Mr. Weasley took out his wand and began tapping bricks and muttering under his breath. "Two up, three over...or is it three up and two over?"  
  
"Two up and three over," Mrs. Weasley told him.  
  
He touched the trashcan, tapped two bricks up and three bricks over, and tapped that one three times. The wall opened into an archway big enough for all of them to fit through at once.  
  
"This," Michael said triumphantly, "is Diagon Alley."  
  
Liz looked at him. "I know what it is. I've been here before, remember?"  
  
"Where to first?" Mr. Weasley said, stepping into the broad sunlight.  
  
"Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream!" Michael said.  
  
"We're school shopping," Mrs. Weasley reminded them.  
  
"Quidditch supplies?"  
  
Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Fine."  
  
They headed off to Quality Quidditch supplies, where Michael purchased a second broom polishing kit. Then they went to Gringotts to restock on money. Next they took off to Flourish and Blotts. A long line snaked out the doorway and across the path.  
  
"What's everybody in line for?" Liz said, bouncing up and down, trying to see. Michael had better luck.  
  
"Look, there's a sign on the window! Mum, can you hold our places for us while we go see what it says?"  
  
Mrs. Weasley consented. The two of them ran to check the sign.  
  
THE MUCH ANTICIPATED BOOK OF PENNY NILWORG, SECRETS OF THE MIND, IS ON SALE NOW! HURRY AND GET YOUR COPY BEFORE THEY SELL OUT!  
  
"Secrets of the Mind?" Michael snorted. "How corny can you get?"  
  
"No, it sounds pretty interesting. I want a copy," Liz said. "I wonder how much it is?"  
  
They went back to the Weasleys, who were still in line, and explained. Jessica perked up instantly.  
  
"Secrets of the Mind? I've heard of that! It's supposed to be really good. I want a copy."  
  
"You'll have to use your own money if you want to buy it," Mr. Weasley said.  
  
"Fine," Jessica said.  
  
"Me too?" Michael said.  
  
"You too," Mrs. Weasley agreed.  
  
The line went fairy quickly, considering its length. People wanted to get out of there and read the book as quickly as possible. At last, Jessica got to the front desk.  
  
"Secrets of the Mind, by Penny Nilworg, please," she requested.  
  
"You're lucky," the sales clerk said, pulling out a copy of the book. "It's the last one."  
  
"What?" Michael cried in disbelief. "That's not fair! Jessica, can I borrow your copy?"  
  
"Of course not. It's mine."  
  
"You know, Jessica," her mother said, "I think you should save it for school. Then you'll have something to do in your free time."  
  
"Fine," Jessica pouted.  
  
They purchased their needed schoolbooks and left to buy the rest of the school supplies. Then they stopped for ice cream. Liz' favorite was chocolate, so she got two scoops, one on top of the other. She was about to take the first big lick when—  
  
"Michael! Liz! Over here!"  
  
Liz's head whipped around. Rachel was over at another table, enjoying an ice cream with her parents and sisters, waving at them.  
  
"Rachel!" Liz said. "Have you gotten all your school supplies?"  
  
"No, we just got here. How about you?"  
  
"We just finished," Michael said. "We're leaving now."  
  
Rachel frowned. "Oh." Then she perked up again. "I'll see you on the train, then?"  
  
"Definitely," Liz answered. "I can't wait!"  
  
"I can," Michael sighed. "But that's because you're better at school than me."  
  
"We'd better go," Jessica butted in. "Mum and Dad are waiting."  
  
Liz and Michael waved goodbye to Rachel and followed the older Weasleys back outside the Leaky Cauldron. Mrs. Weasley performed the Disillusionment Charm on all of them again, and they were off into the sky.  
  
Michael kept pestering Jessica about the book. "Please can I read it?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Please?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because."  
  
"Because why?"  
  
"Because I said so."  
  
"But why'd you say so?"  
  
"Because! Now shut up!"  
  
This earned her a reproving, yet invisible, glance from her mother. Her brother, on the other hand, grinned secretly behind her. "Y'know, Jessica, I think there are a couple of people who didn't hear you in South Africa."  
  
"Quiet, worm," she muttered.  
  
They landed almost silently in front of the Smiths' house. "See you on the train, Liz," Michael told her. "Till then, if your sister gives you trouble—"  
  
Liz instinctively clutched her wand behind her back. "I'll let you know," she promised. "See you."  
  
Emma had been watching TV in the living room; when Liz slammed the door closed, she shot up the stairs, two at a time, up to her room. Liz shook her head.  
  
"Have a good time, dear?" Mrs. Smith asked.  
  
"Yes," said Liz, taking a seat at the table. "Now if only school would start." 


	3. FirstYears

Chapter 3 – First-Years  
  
Emma hated Liz. It was clear from one glance in her eyes. The tiny blonde girl had been forced to deal with this hatred all summer long. Now that it was coming to a close, Liz rejoiced. At school, she could read her books in peace.  
  
For the second year in a row, Mrs. Smith drove Liz to King's Cross Station. People were milling about, impatient for their rides, or waiting to pick up family members. Liz clambered out of the automobile, said goodbye, and watched as her mother drove off down the road. For a moment, Liz wished she wasn't a witch, that she could go home and not be at odds with Emma, and eat Mrs. Smith's delicious home-cooked meals all year round. The next, she set off to find Platform 9 ¾.  
  
There it was. All she had to do was run at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Which she did, with great aplomb. She slid through easily, marveling at the flawless magic between realms.  
  
Ten 'till eleven, she noticed. Almost time to leave. She'd better get going or she'd miss the train.  
  
The scarlet Hogwarts Express stood before her. Struggling, she managed to get her trunk on the bottom step. That cost her a good few deep breaths. How would she ever get it all the way on?  
  
"Need help?" someone asked from above her, on the train.  
  
"Yes," she gushed. "Thank you."  
  
He helped her pull her trunk up. "Thank you," she repeated, looking up. There she found John Peterson. It was a well-known fact among the first- years at Hogwarts that he liked her. He had taken her to the Valentine's Day Dance last year, and it had been the worst night of her life. Of course, it was barely any fault of his, but Liz felt good to assign blame to the most annoying person she knew.  
  
"Hi, Liz," he said.  
  
"Hi, John," she replied. "Um, I have to go. See you at school and stuff." She left hurriedly, slipping into an unoccupied compartment.  
  
Moments later, Michael and Rachel came thundering in. "You should've seen your face!" Rachel burst out.  
  
"You were there? Why didn't you help?"  
  
Michael shrugged. "Nothing we could do. Besides, it was pretty funny."  
  
Liz scowled while Rachel giggled. "Thanks for all your help," Liz said sarcastically.  
  
"No problem," Rachel grinned. "I'm glad we're going back to school. Sort of."  
  
"I'm glad. Emma was being a pain."  
  
They sat and talked for a while. Finally, after it had become unbearably quiet, it was agreed that they would try to find some of the other second- year Gryffindors.  
  
"But not," Liz added hastily, "John."  
  
In the compartment next to theirs, they found the Gryffindor girls: Desiree Armstrong, Alberta Monroe, and Bettie Hess. Not one of them spared the trio a glance except for Bettie, who took the opportunity to glare at Liz. She had been the main receiver of misfortune during the dance fiasco last year. They were all three reading the same book, but with different copies: Secrets of the Mind, by Penny Nilworg.  
  
"Oh, for crying out loud," Michael said, shutting the compartment door.  
  
Liz pondered aloud. "What about that book could be so fascinating?"  
  
"I guess we'll really never find out. Come on, let's go find the others."  
  
But in almost every compartment, the same sight met their eyes: three or four people all reading Secrets of the Mind.  
  
"I'll get Jessica to lend us her copy if it's the last thing I do!" Michael puffed furiously.  
  
They finally agreed that their time was better spent in their compartment. Liz sat on her seat, Sunny purring in her lap, wondering about her mother.  
  
At last it came time to change into their robes. They took turns in the compartment. While Rachel and Liz were outside waiting on Michael, Winnie Chen strode by.  
  
Winnie had been Liz's enemy from the first word she said to Liz, a year ago on the Hogwarts Express. Her most dastardly act to date was causing Liz to fail a Potions exam. Liz expected her to pass a snide remark or something, but no. She just kept on walking, her head buried in Secrets of the Mind.  
  
"Now there's something you don't see everyday," Rachel remarked. "Winnie passing up the chance to make a comment."  
  
"But I wish I'd see it more often."  
  
Michael let them in, and presently the train lurched to a halt. The three of them hurried to be the first ones off so they could see Chris.  
  
"Over here!" he cried, waving his arms around. They raced to him as first- years began to pile into boats under Hagrid's instruction. "How were your summers? Did you get my owls?"  
  
"Yes, did you get mine?" Liz asked.  
  
"And mine?"  
  
"And mine?"  
  
"Chris! Time ter go!" Hagrid yelled. "Shove off!"  
  
Chris grinned. "I guess I'll see you later. Bye, then."  
  
They waved goodbye and found a horseless carriage among others to take them up to the castle. The ride was bumpy and jarring, and Liz ended up wanted to leave her breakfast outside.  
  
Among other chattering students, they strolled in and took seats at the Gryffindor House table. "Where's the food, I'm starving," was Michael's outlook on things as the minutes ticked by and then the first-years still hadn't turned up for the Sorting.  
  
Finally they showed, a mass of anxious faces in a swarm all together. Liz remembered when she got Sorted. At the sound of her well-known name, the entire Great Hall had buzzed like a swarm of bees until the Sorting Hat had pronounced her a Gryffindor. The rest was history.  
  
Looking up, she was surprised to see Professor Longbottom of the Herbology department carrying a long list of names to Professor Weasley as the Sorting Hat waited patiently. "Oh," she said softly. "I missed the Sorting Hat's song."  
  
"It was great," Michael told her. "It was like...nah, I can't remember it."  
  
Professor Weasley took the list from blundering Professor Longbottom and called out the first name on it. "Angell, Grace!"  
  
The name fit. A small, golden-haired girl with plump, cherubic cheeks trotted up to the stool and placed the Sorting Hat daintily on her head. It took a minute to say, "GRYFFINDOR!" to the eager students. Grace squealed with delight and went to her seat, not far from Liz.  
  
"Bautista, Violet," Professor Weasley said.  
  
"You know, that one has a build like a Quidditch player," Michael remarked to Liz and Rachel as the girl was made a Gryffindor, too.  
  
"Maybe she will be on your team," Rachel said. Randy Bejarano became a Ravenclaw. "But not this year."  
  
A few names later, people were getting restless. Keith Dircks complained of sharp hunger pains, but Liz knew better. When she had seen him on the train, he had been stuffing his face with chocolate frogs from the trolley.  
  
"Heins, Frank!"  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Keenan, Samuel!"  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
"Kreiger, Howard!"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Lovegood, Nora!"  
  
Liz blinked. Lovegood? Her mother's maiden name? Lovegood! She looked up to see the girl, but the Sorting Hat had already called "HUFFLEPUFF!" and she had already taken her seat. All Liz saw was a flash of light brown hair.  
  
It took a few moments to speak. "Lovegood!" she managed to squeak as "McGhee, Nathan," was made a Slytherin. "That was my mother's maiden name!"  
  
"Really?" Rachel said, half-interested. She hadn't noticed the first-year that had aroused Liz's suspicions. Michael hadn't either. He was busy trying to make food appear on his plate, unsuccessfully.  
  
There were six people with last names beginning with M, and it almost drove Liz mad. She wanted to get up and speak to this Nora Lovegood person. Renee Penny was made a Slytherin. Liz could barely stand it.  
  
Finally, after Juanita Whiteley became a Slytherin, the Sorting was over. Professor McGonagall stood, and Liz wished fervently that she wouldn't make any pointless announcements. Thankfully, the headmistress just clapped her hands and said, "Enjoy!" as food appeared on the plates. But that wasn't Liz's focus. Her focus was one Nora Lovegood of Hufflepuff. 


	4. Nora Lovegood

Chapter 4—Nora Lovegood  
  
"Nora?" Liz said. The small girl looked up, a misty look of absence in her eyes. "Are you Nora Lovegood?" Liz asked.  
  
"Yes," Nora replied, shifting in her seat. "Are you my cousin?"  
  
Liz was taken aback. "Maybe. I mean, I don't know. I mean, are you related to my mum, Luna Lovegood?"  
  
Nora nodded dreamily. "Yes. My father was your mother's brother. So you're my cousin, correct?"  
  
"I guess."  
  
"There also my brother Carl. He's in Ravenclaw. Carl!" she called out. A brunette third-year waved from his table. "There's also Matthew Leeming. He's over there, in Slytherin." She snorted. "Fifth-years think they know everything, don't they?"  
  
"Yeah, um, maybe. Why?"  
  
"Well, he has that new book everyone wants and he won't let me read it! It really isn't fair. Anyway, his mother is our aunt, your mum's sister."  
  
Now that all the mysteries had been cleared up, Liz noticed her hunger pains as Nora began munching on a leg of chicken. "I—I've got to go. Nice chatting with you."  
  
"You too," Nora said. She turned back to her table, as if she hadn't just met her famous cousin. Liz took one step back, then another, and then she made a run for the Gryffindor table.  
  
"Who was that you were talking to?" Michael asked around a mouthful of food.  
  
"My cousin Nora."  
  
"You have cousins?" asked Rachel. "Wow, cool."  
  
Liz nodded. "I guess. Mm, I love Hogwarts food."  
  
She was glad to be around all the Gryffindors again. There were Desiree, Bettie, Alberta, and John, and then there were Thomas Needham, Robert Sorenson, and Keith Dircks. All of them currently had their heads buried in the books. Liz sighed in disgust.  
  
Professor McGonagall stood regally at the High Table, waiting for attention. "I'm glad you all enjoyed the feast. My congratulations to the first-years for being Sorted successfully. I would like to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is self-explanatory: forbidden. Now I believe it is time to go up to bed. Prefects?"  
  
The prefects began to call out for all the years to follow them. A sixth- year led them to the portrait of the Fat Lady, told them the password ("Glumbumbles"), and led them in. Liz and Rachel said goodbye to Michael and headed up to the now-familiar dormitory. Their luggage was already there.  
  
Liz sank onto her bed. It was so comfortable, so familiar. She was home at last. With Sunny gnawing gently on her toes, Liz fell fast asleep.  
  
In the morning, Liz blinked herself awake. Sunny was curled up on her stomach, purring softly. Now she'd have cat hairs all over her robes. She made sure not to disturb her baby kitten too much as she got up and changed clothes. Then she headed downstairs.  
  
"Schedules," Rachel yawned. "Here's yours. Put it away."  
  
But Liz took it and scanned it three or four times before putting it in her bag. Rachel scowled. "Why d'you have to do that?"  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Memorize it!"  
  
Liz shrugged. "It helps to know your schedule."  
  
"I know that, but that's what you have it in your bag for! It's not going anywhere."  
  
Liz didn't reply. Rachel sat muttering darkly about overachievers until Michael finally showed up. She handed him his schedule, and he promptly stuffed it in his bag. "See, that's how people should do it," Rachel grumbled, as if the handing out of timetables was the only true test of character. Liz rolled her eyes.  
  
"First class...aw, darn, it's Defense Against the Dark Arts," Michael groaned after breakfast.  
  
"What's wrong with that?"  
  
"It's school work," he told Liz.  
  
Liz hadn't enjoyed that class one bit the previous year, but that had been because of Professor Theseus Garb, a pompous, arrogant jerk, who had quit. She was eager to find out who their new teacher would be. Unfortunately, when they entered the classroom, the teacher was surrounded with students all clamoring with quills and spare scraps of parchment.  
  
"Wonder what's going on?" said Rachel.  
  
The bell rang, and the students cleared away to reveal a woman with a face like a pug. On the board, she had written PROFESSOR PENNY NILWORG in huge, loopy letters.  
  
"Liz," Michael muttered. "Isn't that the author of Secrets of the Mind?"  
  
"Welcome, class," Professor Nilworg said. "I am Professor Penny Nilworg. Yes, some of you may have read my book," she added as a cheer rose up from most of the students. "But we will not be focusing on that in the classroom. Today we will begin a section on Potions to Stop, Injure, or Incapacitate Your Enemies. Please open your books to page two."  
  
"More Potions," Michael grumbled. "Great."  
  
They took notes on some weird potions none of them had ever heard of before, and then it was time for History of Magic, with Professor Binns, their only ghost teacher. The whole class, even Liz, agreed that he was the only teacher who knew how to put them to sleep so well. As soon as they reached their seats, he began to lecture.  
  
"Today we'll talk about some current events. Around the time you were born, the Metamorphmagi were rounded up and tagged. Metamorphmagi have extraordinary abilities in which they only have to wish their appearance different, and it is so. They were rounded up, tagged, and put into captivity, where they remain to this day."  
  
Liz moaned. Only Binns would believe around the time they were born to be the time span of current events. By the time the bell rang, she was wondering if it was possible to die of boredom.  
  
Classes got along all right. They had Transfiguration with Professor Weasley, Herbology with Professor Longbottom, Charms with Professor Flitwick, and Potions with crotchety old Professor Snape. He seemed to hate children, but especially Gryffindors. The hour in the dungeons nearly every day was torture.  
  
The third week of school, he set them to work brewing something he called a Snap Potion.  
  
"Like Snape without the E," Michael mumbled.  
  
"This potion is used to cure or wake up an individual in a trance-like state. The name comes from the phrase, 'Snap out of it.' Now here are the ingredients on the board, and make sure you do it right," he sneered. "Begin."  
  
The ingredients were mostly plants that could be found in an ordinary garden. Liz set to work brewing them perfectly, making sure Winnie Chen was across the room so no sabotage would be executed. Within minutes she had finished, and it was flawless. But instead of an approving glance, Snape shot her a glare.  
  
"Are you done already, Miss Potter?" he snarled loudly, so most of the class looked up.  
  
"Yes, Professor," Liz replied.  
  
"Really. I suppose we should test it. Who wants to be the test subject?  
  
Nobody raised his or her hand.  
  
"Well, since it is your potion, I propose you to be the test subject, Miss Potter."  
  
Liz nodded and swallowed dryly. What was Snape going to do to her? She could hardly stand it.  
  
Snape raised his wand, muttered a few words, and aimed at Liz. A single yellow spark burst at her, and for a moment everything was washed in gold. Then it cleared, and all she could see was Snape. She knew she must do whatever he told her, or there would be dire consequences for her actions.  
  
"Speak," he commanded, his voice as hypnotic as the spell.  
  
"La," she said.  
  
"Dance."  
  
She tried to, not aware that she was making a fool of herself.  
  
"Act like a monkey."  
  
She bent down and curled her arms and screeched in perfect monkey fashion. Then all commands stopped. A voice was yelling, but Liz didn't know to whom it belonged. A cool something hit her in the face and stuck. Then she was aware of herself again and very angry with Snape.  
  
"What were you doing?" she screeched, abandoning all pretense of trying not to make Snape mad.  
  
"Demonstrating the power of the spell over you, and how much more powerful the Snap potion is, if you brewed it correctly. As it turns out, you did."  
  
"You made me look like a fool!"  
  
The bell rang and the class gratefully filed out. Liz scowled one more time at Snape and left. Winnie Chen passed with her friend Patsy Casarez, saying, "Well, he made a monkey out of her."  
  
"That was awful," Rachel said.  
  
"Yeah," Liz grumbled.  
  
"Still, you've got to thank Michael. He yelled at Snape, told him off, and threw your potion at you."  
  
"You did?" Liz asked. "Thanks, Michael."  
  
"No one does that to one of my best friends," he smiled. Liz grinned. She felt lucky to have such good friends. 


	5. Squib Lessons

Chapter 5-Squib Lessons  
  
One morning early in October, Liz woke up and found that she hadn't seen Chris or Hagrid since the day of her arrival. She decided to go down there today, probably after breakfast, with Rachel and Michael.  
  
She broached the matter over pancakes and plenty of syrup. They agreed, but Michael said, "I have to be back by one for Quidditch practice."  
  
"Oh, we won't stay that long," Liz assured him. "I just want to say hello. You know, the usual."  
  
They polished off their breakfast and left the castle. Before they saw Hagrid's house, they saw Hagrid bent over, pruning his garden. "Oy! Hagrid!" Michael yelled out. Hagrid looked up, beamed as he saw them coming, and waved. They cheerfully waved back.  
  
"Chris has been dyin' to see you three," he said, pocketing his pruning shears. "Thought you lot'd forgot abou' him."  
  
"School's been really busy," Rachel told him.  
  
"I'll bet it 'as. Chris! Come ou' here!"  
  
Chris appeared in the doorway. "Liz! Michael! Rachel! I was wondering if you'd ever visit! It's been a month!"  
  
Hagrid went inside. The four children sat outside, near the garden, and caught up with each other.  
  
"So then he did a spell and hypnotized me or something," Liz said, near the culmination of her Snape tale. "And he made me dance and act like a monkey, it was horrible."  
  
Rachel took up the story when Liz paused. "So then Michael started yelling at him, and he took her potion, it was all gelatin-like, you know, and just heaved a handful at her face. It stuck like glue, and she woke up."  
  
"It left a mark," said Liz. On closer inspection, her nose was indeed a pale yellow color.  
  
"That's awful. If I was there, I'd hypnotize him and see how he liked it."  
  
The other three looked at each other uncomfortably. They all knew Squibs couldn't do magic.  
  
"Okay, if I could do magic," Chris said, downcast.  
  
"Now, I've been wondering about that," Liz said. "I've read about programs to teach Squibs. Why not do that for you ourselves?"  
  
"That's a great idea!" Rachel put in.  
  
"I'm in," Michael agreed. "What about you, Chris?"  
  
"I don't have a wand."  
  
"You can borrow mine during lessons," Liz said. "Please? It'll be fun, I promise."  
  
Chris grinned reluctantly. "Oh, all right. Do you want to start now?"  
  
"Absolutely! Here, take my wand. What should we start with?"  
  
After a minute of brainstorming, they finally decided on the Levitation Charm. "Repeat after me," Liz ordered. "Wingardium Leviosa."  
  
"Wingardum Livosa."  
  
"Wingardium Leviosa."  
  
"Wing—wingardium leeviosa."  
  
It took a few minutes, but at last Chris could say it correctly. Then they practiced the wand movements.  
  
"Swish and flick. Good, now you try."  
  
"Flish and swick," Rachel laughed, remembering Michael's first attempt at the spell. He scowled.  
  
"Right. What do I practice on?"  
  
"Um...oh, here, use this bird feather."  
  
Chris raised the wand, swished and flicked, and said the incantation. The feather rose an inch, and then came pelting at him. With a yell, he dove to the ground and it missed him. It swerved back around to aim at his head. Rachel and Michael went running to grab it, but they ran into each other. Liz grabbed her wand before Chris squashed it and yelled, "Finite Incantatem!" The feather floated down and landed on the ground. The other three looked up at her in awe.  
  
"Where'd you learn that? That's at least fourth-year level!" Rachel exclaimed.  
  
"From a book."  
  
"I believe the lesson for today is over. Right, Chris?" Michael panted. The pupil in question nodded.  
  
"We'll owl you," Liz promised. "We'll work out another lesson time. Maybe we'll even have a schedule. But today's class proved one thing."  
  
"And what's that?" Chris said dejectedly. "That I can't do magic?"  
  
"No, that you can do magic. If you couldn't, the feather wouldn't have moved at all. You must not be one hundred percent Squib."  
  
"That's impossible," said Rachel. "You're either a Squib or you're not. There's no in-between."  
  
"Maybe there is," said Liz. "Well, bye, Chris."  
  
They left. Liz's brain was on overdrive. He could to it, she knew he could. Now what to teach him?  
  
Lesson continued, and they went no more auspiciously than the first. They began to worry about Hagrid discovering their secret lessons when Chris accidentally set part of his garden on fire.  
  
After one such taxing lesson, Liz came up to her dorm to find the plump snowy owl of her mother's waiting on the windowsill. She took the letter and began to read.  
  
Dear Elizabeth,  
Your second year! Amazing. You are twelve now, aren't you? I wish I was at Hogwarts with you. How are you? How are classes? Halloween is coming up soon, isn't it? Have a good time at the Hogwarts feast.  
Love, Luna  
  
Liz smiled and put the letter in her trunk. Every time one of these came, she was even further convinced of her mother's survival. No one could take that away from her. No one.  
  
As Luna said, Halloween was just around the corner. The best part of Halloween at Hogwarts was the feast. The night came, and the feast began.  
  
"Mm, bat wings," Michael said. Liz and Rachel pulled faces and shuddered.  
  
"How can you eat those things, Michael?" Liz asked. "They're disgusting! Urgh!"  
  
"Have you tried it?" he retorted, bat wing remains hanging from the corner of his mouth.  
  
"No, and I intend to keep it that way. Ugh."  
  
Rachel shrugged. "I might try one."  
  
Michael grinned. Liz looked appalled. "Rachel! Have you completely lost it? Look!" She waved a severed bat wing before Rachel's face. Rachel took it and ate it.  
  
"Ew. No, you were right, Liz," she finally said, grimacing. "They really are nasty."  
  
They enjoyed the remainder of the feast without any more mention of bat wings, though Michael did have a pile of them on his plate that was so top- heavy and unbalanced that it almost toppled over. Many of the girls looked affronted on such an outright attack on manners, but the Gryffindor boys joined him. After wands, they headed sleepily upstairs to bed.  
  
In the middle of the night, Liz awoke. She wondered vaguely what had caused her sudden return to consciousness. Then she heard footsteps. Dozens and dozens of footsteps, echoing from below her. She snatched up her wand and ran downstairs.  
  
Once there, she stopped. People were streaming out of the dormitory stairwells, all with ghastly looks of sullen, complete obedience painted all over their faces. They headed for the portrait hole. Liz jumped out of the way of some coming up behind her. She had to be dreaming. She just had to be.  
  
Jessica Weasley emerged from the staircase beside her. "Jessica!" Liz hissed. "Can you hear me?"  
  
Jessica revolved on the spot. Her face was blank and devoid of any emotion. She grunted and pulled out her wand. Raising it, she began to advance.  
  
"Jessica?" Liz whimpered. "Jessica! Stop! Stop it! Go away!"  
  
Now more of the mindless zombies moved toward her, dragging their feet. The zombie that was Jessica Weasley raised the wand and intoned, "Stupefy!" The light burst from the wand like a waterfall of blood. Unconsciousness was immediate.  
  
With a cry, Liz woke up. Sunlight from the open window blinded her momentarily. She racked her brains, trying to figure out what had happened. It must've been a dream. For one thing, she was in her bed. But it all seemed so real...with a shake of her head to toss it away, Liz headed downstairs to breakfast. 


	6. Gryffindor Versus Ravenclaw

Chapter 6-Gryffindor Versus Ravenclaw  
  
"First Quidditch game of the season in three hours!" Michael said joyfully, sliding in between Liz and Rachel. "You coming?"  
  
Rachel agreed instantly. They both looked around at Liz expectantly. "Well?"  
  
"Well what?"  
  
"Are you coming?"  
  
Liz gave a loud, melodramatic sigh. "I guess."  
  
"Good. See you then. Celeste has us practicing three hours before. D'you believe it?"  
  
Liz did. Celeste Weaver, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, was a very hard worker. She should've been in Hufflepuff.  
  
"A bit overkill, don't you think?" Rachel said.  
  
"I agree with you, but I tried to tell Celeste," Michael grimaced. "You should've heard her." His voice went high-pitched as he mimicked her. "Overkill? Overkill? Weasley, in Quidditch there is no such thing as overkill!" He grinned wryly. "Thus, I must go to Quidditch practice at eight in the morning. I'm already late and promised a slacker's welcome when I finally do arrive. Bye."  
  
"He wouldn't go if he wasn't obsessed," Rachel remarked. Liz nodded.  
  
At eleven, the two girls made for the Quidditch pitch, surrounded on all sides by students from first-year to seventh-year. Liz and Rachel found seats near John Peterson, mainly because Liz wanted to avoid Bettie Hess. The girl with the black curly bob sent Liz many rude faces. So Liz was forced to endure sitting by John. He kept looking at her and grinning in his skin-prickling manner.  
  
"Welcome!" yelled the commentator, a fifth-year Gryffindor named Josh Lepress. "It's the first match of the season, and what a match it promises to be! Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor. All right, Oliver Wood is out on the field with the Quidditch balls. Captains Celeste Weaver of Gryffindor and Jack Guevara of Ravenclaw are shaking hands. And—yes, the Quaffle is released!"  
  
The stands filled with screams. Through the roaring crowd, Liz spotted Hagrid and Chris making heir way toward her.  
  
"Hagrid! Chris! Over here!" Rachel called.  
  
It was a tight fit, but Chris and Hagrid managed to squeeze in. Beyond the transparent barrier that separated the Gryffindor and Slytherin stands, Liz saw Winnie Chen's friend Patsy motion to Chris, and she saw Winnie distinctly mouth the word "Squib." Then they burst into peals of laughter. Liz writhed with silent fury.  
  
"Mitchell Mikey of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, he passes to Shannon Dogginsen—ooh, intercepted by Joe Morrison of Ravenclaw, he's going up the field, he shoots, and he scores! Better luck next time, Gryffindor. Celeste Weaver, captain, has it, Gryffindor in possession, and the Quaffle isn't all Weaver's got, she's got looks and personality, too, wouldn't you know it, a girl like her might do well with a guy like me at the Valentine's Day Dance—"  
  
Liz shuddered at the very mention of that event while Professor Weasley attempted to wrestle the microphone away from Josh. Up in the air, Celeste almost lost the Quaffle in shock; Josh was a year younger than her.  
  
"Keep flying, Celeste!" Josh shouted once he had regained control of the mike. Professor Weasley relented grudgingly. Celeste made for the Ravenclaw goalposts.  
  
"Weaver against Keeper Vincent Hartley, let's see who'll come up the better in this round, Celeste shoots, SHE SCORES! Ten to ten, all tied up."  
  
All this time, Michael had been circling the field in the air above it. Now he made a steep dive straight at the field. Jack Guevara, the opposing Seeker, followed. But both pulled up empty-handed.  
  
"False alarm, false alarm," Josh said. Many of the Quidditch players had been watching the spectacular play, and they looked up to see Shannon Dogginsen score on their Keeper.  
  
"Ha, ha, the old diversion ploy! Nice job, Gryffindor, who takes the lead, twenty-ten."  
  
The Seeker and Captain of Ravenclaw was not happy. He took aside his Beaters, Johnny Wille and Marvin Theobald, to discuss strategy. They took to the air with a ferocious glint in their eyes.  
  
"All right, twenty to—whoa, watch out there," Josh said as Wille hit a Bludger toward Celeste. He had missed by a mile, ending up instead in the vicinity of the commentator's head. "Calm down, Ravenclaw, there's till time left in the game."  
  
This statement, rather than cool the Ravenclaws down, ignited their fury even further. One of the Chasers, Joe Morrison, almost too the Gryffindor Keeper's head off. Needless to say, Sarah McGuire was not pleased. She raced up to him and smacked him with the tail of her broom.  
  
A whistle rang out. "Foul!" the Ravenclaws cried together. "Foul!"  
  
"Aw, get over it," Chris said.  
  
"And Ravenclaw Chaser Joe Morrison gets one penalty shot for unnecessary use of brooms."  
  
The Gryffindor fans held their breath. Morrison took careful aim and chucked it. Sarah McGuire made a grab for it and missed. The Quaffle hit the side of the goalpost and plummeted to the ground.  
  
"The penalty is stopped. Not by the Keeper, maybe, but it's stopped, all right. Ravenclaw's getting a little hot under the collar, maybe? Gryffindor in possession, we could use a Snitch capture right about now. Weasley? Guevara? Ah, they're still up there. Mitchell Mikey has the Quaffle, and what is he doing?"  
  
The Seeker, Guevara, came pelting at the unfortunate Chaser, who was struck by a hundred and fifty kilograms of Ravenclaw flesh and dropped the Quaffle. But unbeknownst to either of them, Michael was reaching out for the Snitch at that exact moment.  
  
"Weasley has the Snitch! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"  
  
A roar rose up from their part of the stands. Through the barrier, Liz could see Winnie pouting.  
  
A wave of red and gold crashed out onto the field to congratulate their Quidditch team.  
  
"That match was amazing!" Chris said.  
  
"Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" Michael agreed. "Hagrid, exactly how much rope do you need to do a knot?"  
  
The four children were helping Hagrid set a trap for predators of his garden ("They've been burnin' it up," he said). This involved a trap where a rope snapped and the intruder was strung up by the foot or whatever body part placed in the loop conveniently placed on the ground. Liz, Rachel, Michael, and Chris were tugging at the rope so Hagrid could tie a knot.  
  
"Could you give it up?" Liz groaned. "It's been a week."  
  
"There. All done," Hagrid announced. "I'll be headin' back up to the cabin." He turned and left. From their current spot, the cabin seemed far, far away.  
  
"All right. He's gone. Let's get started," said Liz. "Shall we try levitation again?"  
  
"Fine," Chris relented, "but I'm pretty sure I haven't improved since the last time we tried."  
  
Liz handed him her wand and told him to practice wand movements and the incantation while Michael went to find another feather.  
  
"I think we've scared all the birds away," Rachel commented, smirking.  
  
"Wingardium Leviosa. Wingardium Leviosa," Chris repeated, swishing and flicking as Michael approached again. "Wingardium Leviosa. Wingardium Leviosa!"  
  
It all happened very fast. A blue spark hit the rope just as Michael stepped in the loop. The rope snapped and Michael was soon hanging upside- down, the blood rushing to his head.  
  
"Cut me down," he choked.  
  
Liz said a few words and slashed another section of the offending rope with her wand. Unfortunately, none of them managed to foresee the obvious effects of gravity, and Michael came crashing to the ground. He ended up in a dazed heap. "Ow."  
  
"Michael! Are you all right?" Liz cried.  
  
"No. I've got a lump the size of a Bludger on the back of my head. Didn't anybody realize what would happen? I wasn't going to fly!" But he said it jokingly, so they all knew he was all right.  
  
"I'm really sorry, Michael," Chris apologized.  
  
"It's okay. It wasn't your fault," Michael assured him.  
  
But the atmosphere was ruined, Liz noted. Chris had lost what little confidence he had for the day, so they left not long afterwards.  
  
"We tried, Liz," Rachel said. "But it looks like it's not working. Chris is a Squib."  
  
"It is working. I know it is."  
  
Rachel shrugged uneasily. Liz bit her lip. It was working, wasn't it? 


	7. Owls with Letters

Chapter 7 – Owls with Letters  
  
"All right, class," Professor Nilworg announced. "Essay due on Monday on the theory of countercurses. And stop grumbling that it's too hard, Weasley, we've been over it four times. Have a good weekend!"  
  
"What weekend?" Michael grumbled. "Mine has been eaten by homework!"  
  
Liz rolled her eyes. "It's not that hard."  
  
"Maybe not for you," Rachel put in. "But for all us normal people, it's pretty near impossible."  
  
Liz shook her head. "If this is your roundabout way of asking for help, the answer is no. Come on, it's time for lunch."  
  
They entered the Great Hall. A crowd of people was gathered around a boy holding a Wizard's Wireless. They were talking so loud that Liz couldn't hear what the bewitched radio was saying.  
  
"Do you have yours with you?" Rachel asked.  
  
Liz nodded and dug around in her bag. Her mother, Luna, had sent it with her birthday letter last year. Of course, Rachel and Michael believed it had been Mrs. Smith who had sent it. Liz hadn't exactly told them this; she just hadn't corrected their assumption. It was better that way for now.  
  
Rachel took the device and began tuning it. There were ads for the latest broomstick and the newest kind of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and the latest hit song blared on one station's "Witching Hour." Finally, they got to a news report that very well could have been the topic of the other group's discussion.  
  
"Yes, on this week's top five booklist, sponsored by Flourish and Blotts. Secrets of the Mind by Penny Nilworg is still at number one, after many months, but The Mind Revealed, by Padfoot Mynoduesp, comes in at a close second. Is there a connection between these books? Readers seem to think so. Lovers of Penny's Nilworg's work despise this new release. There's even talk of an anti-Mynoduesp rally, but no one's ever seen this elusive author! Updates next week during the next top five booklist."  
  
"Weird," Rachel said. "But still, who really cares? They're books. People can be so obsessive."  
  
Liz didn't say a word. She stood where she was, pondering what this could mean. After a minute or two, she decided Rachel was right and went to eat her lunch.  
  
The weather was getting colder, but the Quidditch season was heating up. The next match was scheduled for the first of December, Slytherin versus Hufflepuff. Liz was adamant about not participating.  
  
"Come on, Liz, it'll be fun, you can practice Transfiguration tomorrow," Rachel pleaded. Liz maintained her position.  
  
"Everyone will be there," Michael offered hopefully.  
  
"Why go? Everyone knows Slytherin is going to win. The Hufflepuffs are pushovers."  
  
"But Hufflepuff has Kathryn Hertel, the best Seeker in the game. Didn't you wonder why Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor for the Quidditch Cup last year?"  
  
"I was hoping it was because you were too worried about all the homework you didn't do, Michael, but I guess I was wrong. I've been to way too many games this year and last. It's eating into my homework time."  
  
"Don't say that. Think of it the other way. Homework is eating into your Quidditch time," Rachel said. "Besides, there's only been one game this year."  
  
"Go. Have a good time. I need to practice my Switching Spell. Go!"  
  
"We haven't even covered those yet," Michael interjected.  
  
"I'm getting ahead. Now go! You're goin to miss it!"  
  
Rachel and Michael left reluctantly, leaving Liz to her Switching Spells. The first time she tried, she couldn't concentrate, and found her own nose on a begonia with a petal in the middle of her face. Then she focused and switched them back. After a few more tries, she had it down perfectly.  
  
She let her mind and eyes wander. As she thought about her mother's letters, her eyes saw a shape out the window in the distance. Not daring to hope, she threw open the window to (she told herself) tempt in some fresh air. The next minute, the familiar owl handed on her desktop, carrying another letter.  
  
Her kitten, Sunny, came running at it and pounced. "No, Sunny, don't!" Liz cried, trying to pull Sunny off the hopelessly scrabbling owl. A few feather were lost, but no permanent harm was done. Liz stuck Sunny in her trunk, leaving the lid open slightly so her baby cat could breathe, and took the letter from the owl, which snapped its beak irately and took off again.  
  
Over Sunny's pitiful meows, Liz read the letter half-aloud to herself.  
  
Dear Elizabeth,  
Hello. How are you doing? What are you doing? How is your second year going so far? How are you doing in all your classes? I'm doing just fine. What are all your hobbies? Do you have a favorite magazine? Mine was the Quibbler, but that was because my father was the editor. I remember, there was one edition of a rival magazine that made everyone who read it go insane. Eventually they burned all the copies and reversed the effects of the spell, but it was still a scary thing.  
I've taken too long rambling. Goodbye!  
Luna  
  
Liz grinned slightly. Her mother could get so off topic, if there had been a topic to begin with. She lifted Sunny out of the trunk and put in her place the letter. She would look at it again later. For now, she'd try Transfiguration again.  
  
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Liz?" Rachel whined as they plowed through the snow toward Hagrid's cabin. "It could go horribly, terribly wrong."  
  
"But it won't," Liz assured her and (though she didn't know it) herself. "Chris can do it. I know he can. Besides, what about the cold? It couldn't hurt to get a bit warmed up."  
  
Liz was planning to teach Chris the Warm Charm. It heated things up slightly and would be useful in the frosty winter air.  
  
"Why don't we use it to melt all this snow away so we can get there faster?" Michael complained, lifting his feet like a snow horse to avoid getting stuck in the snow. Many times it didn't work.  
  
"Because then it would be water, which would get on us and freeze and then we'd get frost bite," Liz told him.  
  
They finally managed to reach the cabin. With frozen knuckles, Liz knocked on the door.  
  
"Come in!" Hagrid said. "Good ter see yeh. Have summat warm, like 'ot chocolate."  
  
"Oh, we were going to talk out here, right, Chris?"  
  
But Chris and the others persuaded her to have some steaming hot chocolate first. Rachel and Michael followed her inside.  
  
"How 'bout I tell a little story?" Hagrid suggested. "Yeh'll like this one, Liz, it involves yer dad."  
  
Liz's heart twinged as Hagrid launched into his tale, which included a pub, a tankard of mulled mead, a hooded figure, and a dragon called Norbert. Hagrid was doubled over laughing and in tears by the end of it, and Liz had heartache so bad she dwelled for a moment on possible indigestion.  
  
"So then they sen' him off ter yer Uncle Charlie, Michael," said Hagrid. The balance was tipped more to sobs at this point. "And I never saw Norbert again. I still wonder what happened ter him."  
  
"He probably had a wife and kids, Hagrid," Chris said.  
  
"And died happy," Rachel added.  
  
"D—died?" Hagrid gulped. The balance was overturned as a cascade of tears tangled themselves in Hagrid's snowy beard. Chris shot Rachel an exasperated look. She widened her eyes questioningly at him.  
  
"We'll go outside now," Michael said quickly. The other three followed him willingly.  
  
"Nice, Rachel," he said once they were all outside. "You had to say died, didn't you?"  
  
"Well, it was in your parent's school days. I doubt dragons live that long, do they?"  
  
"Okay, let's get started," Liz said quickly once Rachel paused. "Today we're going to teach you the Warm Charm. Ready?"  
  
"Correction," said Rachel. "You're going to teach. We're going to help."  
  
"Sure, sure, right," Liz said, waving that away. "Okay, take my wand." Chris took it as if it would disintegrate him or something. "Don't be afraid of it."  
  
"I've just had too many encounters with this thing. Do I really want to try again?"  
  
"Of course you do. Practice makes perfect."  
  
Michael cleared his throat. "Liz, if you were listening in Charms yesterday—"  
  
"—which we know you were," Rachel added, grinning.  
  
"—you'd know that Professor Flitwick gave a long lecture about only perfect practice makes perfect."  
  
"And do you remember why he gave that particular lecture?" Liz taunted teasingly.  
  
"Erm—slipped my mind," mumbled Michael, whose cheeks were as red as his hair.  
  
"Because someone was saying his incantation wrong all week. Hmm, I wonder who that could be," she said, tapping her chin in mock thoughtfulness. Chris smiled, so she addressed him. "I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count."  
  
"That wasn't my point," Michael said.  
  
"What was your point?"  
  
"I—I can't remember."  
  
"Good. Let's begin."  
  
Liz taught Chris the incantation, Rahm, and the wand movements. Finding a test subject probed more difficult than the spell itself, as no one wanted to do it. Liz evaded duty by reminding Rachel and Michael that they had to help. Rachel agreed reluctantly.  
  
"Hurry up, my fingers are going numb," she complained.  
  
Brandishing the wand like a sword, Chris said, "Rahm!"  
  
A few seconds passed. Finally, Liz asked, "Well, did it work?"  
  
"Yeah," Rachel answered, "yeah, they're real warm. Warm and toasty. Real hot. Hot. Ow! OW! HOT! BURNING HOT!"  
  
Panicking, she thrust her hands into the snow to relieve the pain, or at least numb it. This only worked temporarily. Her hands melted a huge chunk of snow, so she rushed around, dragging her hands deep into the snow in various places while the others looked on in horror. Her marks soon resembled very scattered footprints.  
  
"Help! OW! Someone! OW! Liz, do that—OW—Feeneet Incantum, hurry! Ouch! HELP!"  
  
"Finite Incantatem!" Liz cried once she regained her senses. Rachel stopped racing about like a maniac and sank to the ground, panting. She was almost immediately half-buried in snow.  
  
"We'd...better go," Michael said quickly.  
  
"Yes, I'm pretty sure we've done enough today," Liz agreed. Chris nodded sadly, looking as if he wanted to unknowingly take a page from Emma's book and snap Liz's wand; instead, he handed it back to her and said goodbye. As she and Michael helped Rachel toward the castle, Liz cast a glance back at him. Chris kicked Hagrid's admittedly un-sturdy cabin. It trembled and released a landslide of snow around him. Things were not going the way Liz planned. 


	8. The Mind Revealed

Chapter 8-The Mind Revealed  
  
"Happy Christmas," said Rachel.  
  
"And Happy New Year's," Michael added.  
  
"We'll owl you with presents."  
  
"And you better too!"  
  
Rachel hit Michael over the head while Liz grinned. "I will, don't worry. Have a great time with your families!"  
  
Rachel rolled her eyes. "If the twins don't drive me mad. We've really got to go now. Bye!"  
  
Liz waved goodbye as they rushed off with all the other students that were leaving. In reality, not many were leaving. The majority of students were up in the castle, reading (much to Liz's dismay) Secrets of the Mind.  
  
"Haven't you read it enough times already?" she grumbled to no one in particularly after entering the Great Hall, full to the brim with students reading.  
  
"Did you say something?"  
  
Liz turned to see Nora Lovegood, frowning decidedly behind her. "Er—no." Not to her, anyway, she thought. "Why are you staying? Didn't your brother leave?"  
  
"Oh, yes, Carl left. I stayed because of the book." Her frown became more pronounced. "Matthew has it and he won't let me read it. He's just a big Slytherin meanie."  
  
Liz assumed this was true, but she might not have thought to use that exact wording. She wondered vaguely if there were any possible routes of escape from this pointless conversation.  
  
"Well, I need to go. I'll see you around, Nora." And with that, she headed toward Gryffindor Tower, where Nora couldn't find her.  
  
Christmas morning dawned bright and cold. The sun gave much light but little warmth, as Liz noticed when she was woken by the same snowy owl nipping angrily at her little snowy owl, Luna, whose hooting increased in volume every few seconds.  
  
Liz shivered and climbed out of bed to find a pile of presents near the foot of it. But before she touched any of them, she loosed the letter from the larger owl's leg and read:  
  
Dear Elizabeth,  
Happy Christmas! I wish I were at Hogwarts with you right now. Enjoy your present. I love you.  
Luna  
  
A lump formed in Liz's throat. She wished her mother was at Hogwarts with her, too. She willed herself not to cry with the stabbing reminder that her tears would most likely freeze in their tracks. Still, it took all the strength of mind she possessed to open the accompanying package without shedding a single drop. It was a tiny ball that jingled when rattled. A cat ball. Smiling, Liz placed it in Sunny's basket near her kitten's sleeping form. She had to admit, her baby kitten wasn't such a baby anymore. It had been a year since that same owl had brought Sunny to Liz. Liz smiled gently at her kitten, who was curled in a little orange ball.  
  
"Happy birthday," she whispered.  
  
The other present were yet to be opened. Rachel had sent along candy (of course). Michael had given her a notebook that never ran out of paper. Chris had sent another bag of candy. The Smiths...Liz shook her head. They could never be mistaken for magic folk. Their present was a book called How to Keep an Aquarium Once You Have It. At least they knew she liked books, but what had possessed them to believe she had an aquarium, much less wanted to keep one?  
  
Sunny's cat ball came rolling into view. Strange. She stood to put it back in the basket, but it evaded her grasp, rolling in the other direction. Sunny came bounding after it. It escaped her too, swerving every which way until Sunny cornered it against a wall. Cute. It ran on its own. Liz beamed and climbed out of her dormitory.  
  
Only a handful of students in the Great Hall weren't reading. Liz grimaced and sat at her usual spot. Then the large snowy owl appeared again, not through the high windows as if with normal morning post, but through the doors. It nearly landed on Liz's mug of hot chocolate. It was carrying the opened package that Sunny's cat ball had been in, and the lid flopped open despairingly. The owl hooted.  
  
"What, did I miss something?" Liz asked the owl, which hooted again. Liz peered inside the box. Sure enough, there was a thin book nestled at the bottom of the box. On its cover were shiny gold letters: THE MIND REVEALED, BY PADFOOT MYNODUESP.  
  
"Tell my mum thanks, I heard it's really good," Liz told the owl jokingly but in a low voice. Nobody heard her, however, they were all too absorbed in Professor Nilworg's book. The owl cocked its head questioningly and took off, spilling Liz's mug of hot chocolate all over her place. Muttering irritably, Liz wiped up the mess, sat back down, and cracked open the front cover.  
  
It took maybe half an hour to read, which was long in Liz's standards for such a small book. It was a short story, a very interesting one in fact. But Liz felt a subliminal message somewhere in there: Don't read Secrets of the Mind. It had nothing to do with the story at all. It just popped into her head the moment she took in the last word. "Strange," Liz muttered to herself. "Strange."

"It was horrible," Rachel muttered, burying her face in her hands. "They—they—"  
  
"Go on, tell her," Michael said. He had already heard the tale on the train ride back to Hogwarts.  
  
"They—they covered my bed in syrup!"  
  
Liz snickered. Rachel raised her head. "Liz, it's really not funny. Carla and Theresa are ten-year-old little monsters."  
  
"They'll be eleven, right? They're coming here next year, aren't they?" Liz asked.  
  
"I completely forgot about that," Rachel moaned. "They are. Can't I make a restraining order or something?"  
  
"Michael, Rachel, Elizabeth," Professor Nilworg's voice said coldly.  
  
They looked up. Their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was glaring icily at them. "I was under the impression that class time is my time, not yours to talk. Twenty points from Gryffindor. Now, where was I? Ah, yes, your homework. A roll and a half of parchment on methods of hypnosis and mesmerization. Extra credit on indirect methods. Class is dismissed."  
  
"Twenty points and a roll and a half of parchment," said Rachel. "Could this day get any worse?"  
  
"Rachel?" said a boy in the hall. Liz had never seen him before. Judging from the expression on her face, Rachel hadn't either.  
  
"Yes?" she replied meekly.  
  
"My name is Russell Cunningham. I'm a third-year Ravenclaw."  
  
Rachel nodded, bewildered.  
  
"I know it's kind of early to be thinking about this, but will you go with me to the Valentine's Day Dance?"  
  
Rachel's eyes widened. "I—I—I don't—I mean—I don't even know you," she stammered.  
  
"But I know you," Russell said. "You're always with Elizabeth Potter, and I was looking at her, and I saw you, and...will you?"  
  
"I...um...sure, I guess," Rachel said with a half-closed expression. Russell smiled, waved goodbye, and took off down the hall.  
  
"That was bizarre!" Rachel exclaimed as soon as he was out of earshot. Then her face lit up. "I've got a date with a third-year! Who I barely know, but...did I do the right thing, do you think, Liz?"  
  
"Absolutely! He fancies you, Rachel, go for it."  
  
Michael's face was closed. He blinked and said, "That was bizarre."  
  
It seemed Russell wasn't the only one thinking a month ahead. Near the end of January, the epidemic known only as the love bug had spread.  
  
"I can't wait!" Rachel giggled at least twice at every meal.  
  
On February third, Professor McGonagall stood for an announcement. "Attention, students. This year's Valentine's Day Dance has been cancelled, due to certain problems we faced last year." She seemed to be focusing determinedly on a point just above Liz's head. "That is all."  
  
"What?" Rachel screeched. Most of the Great Hall's occupants echoed her. Everyone was staring at Liz, even the confused first-years. Bettie Hess glanced up from her evening mail and sneered, "Thanks, Liz."  
  
Liz's stomach plummeted. Of course everyone would believe it to be her fault. John Peterson took up the glare where Bettie had left off.  
  
"Liz!" Rachel cried. "How—I—"  
  
"This isn't my fault! Don't you remember what happened last year?"  
  
"Yes, but—oh, never mind." She stood up and went to talk to Russell.  
  
Not a minute later, she came back on the verge of tears. "What's wrong?" Michael asked.  
  
"He—he said—well, I said hi—and he said hi—and then he said we could go to Hogsmeade—and then he said wait no, that I was a second-year—then he said bye. We're over," she choked.  
  
Michael patted her on the back while eyeing Liz testily. "What?" Liz cried out. He twisted up his mouth and sighed in frustration.  
  
Liz groaned. Why was this coming back to haunt her again? More than ever, she wished that her mother were there with her.


	9. Lessons Uncovered

Chapter 9 – Lessons Uncovered  
  
Liz's virtual banishment continued. She spent a lot of her solitude in the library reading books Rachel and Michael would have thought useless. One had a section of Hogwarts legends and firsts. To Liz's surprise, it contained an account of Fred and George Weasley's escape from Hogwarts and her father's experience with Voldemort. Liz couldn't help thinking, with a sinking feeling in her stomach, that one day she would be added: Elizabeth Potter, daughter of the famous Harry Potter, ruined two consecutive Valentine's Days.  
  
By late February, Liz was sick of the library. The upcoming Quidditch match gave her a reason to emerge from her hibernation. Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. As much as it pained her to give up her homework to watch a sport, it could get her back on Michael's good side, which in turn might get her back on Rachel's good side.  
  
Liz was determined to let Michael know she was there, so she made a sign. It screamed in red and gold letters: GO GRYFFINDOR! The red and gold flashed alternately. Quidditch really was cutting into her homework time. She headed to the match alone, all eyes narrowed at her.  
  
In the stands, people shared seats to avoid sitting next to her. They obviously thought she had lost it. They had never seen Liz scream and bounce on her toes, waving an expertly made sign. Even Rachel was slightly worried.  
  
"Go Gryffindor! Catch the Snitch, Michael! Woo!" she yelled, alarming the row of first-years before her. Michael stopped to stare, but he didn't smile and he didn't wave. She yelled more loudly still.  
  
Josh Lepress, in the commentator's box, consistently ignored her. Word had it that he had finally gotten a date with Celeste Weaver for the dance before it had been cancelled. He had been livid. Now he pretended that there wasn't a maniac jumping around next to him, across one of the transparent barriers.  
  
"Welcome to today's match, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. Promises to be an excellent match, folks." But he sounded unconvinced.  
  
"Woo! Go Michael!" Liz shouted.  
  
Josh shot her a sideways glance. "Shannon Dogginsen has the Quaffle..."  
  
Liz took up a chant of, "Gryffindor! GO! GO! Gryffindor! GO! GO!" People began to stare again, but Liz noticed someone sit in the unoccupied seat beside her. It was Rachel. She gave Liz a small, hopeful smile and joined the chant. John joined too. With him were Desiree, Alberta, and Robert. Pretty soon all of Gryffindor had forgiven Liz and joined the chant. The only one who hadn't was Bettie. She stayed firmly in her seat with her arms crossed, glaring up at everyone around her.  
  
Then everyone covered his or her ears. The noise from the microphone was deafening. It took a minute for Josh to realize that he was still on the microphone and chanting as loud as he could. He stopped once he realized that he was making half the stadium go deaf. "Erm, sorry folks," he muttered. "Being unbiased is tough. Anyway, Shelia Evangelista of Hufflepuff has the Quaffle—no, Mitchell Mikey of Gryffindor steals it, and he's going up the field...ooh, smacked by a Bludger from Christina Apodaca, Beater, Captain, and seventh-year Hufflepuff. Manuel Southard has the Quaffle...what is she doing?"  
  
Christina Apodaca had swung her Beater's club ferociously at the Bludger that had hit Mitchell. At the moment, it was speeding toward Manuel. It hit him squarely in the back, and he nearly fell off his broom. He dropped the Quaffle.  
  
"A Bludger from his own teammate...and Celeste Weaver has the Quaffle. It's her and Keeper Hugh Kua, she shoots—GOAL!"  
  
As Celeste rose into the air, waving her arms victoriously, something shot by her, grazing the side of her head and sending her spinning in the air. It was Michael, closely followed by Kathryn Hertel.  
  
"Is Michael a match for her?" Rachel whispered worriedly. "He's always said she was he best since your dad..."  
  
Liz felt they had to win. "Catch the Snitch!" she screamed.  
  
It soon turned into another chant. "Catch the SNITCH! Catch the SNITCH!" both the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs yelled. The two Seekers turned upward after Snitch. Kathryn reached out for it. Just as it seemed she would snatch it from the air, Michael's hand shot out and grabbed it. The Snitch tried vainly to escape his fingers.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Josh yelled. "They steamrolled those Hufflepuffs, one hundred sixty to nothing!" Professor Weasley muttered something about "unbiased." "Oh, erm, better luck next time, Hufflepuff," Josh added quickly.  
  
"We won!" Rachel yelled, hugging Liz. Then she looked up at her. "I'm sorry."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For being an idiot. I shouldn't have gotten mad. Besides, he's a year older than me. And I'm twelve."  
  
"I'm sorry, too."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For all that happened last year, that whole Valentine's Day thing."  
  
"That was in the past, and it wasn't your fault," Rachel said. The two hugged again and raced out onto the field to meet Michael.  
  
"Awesome!" Liz yelled hoarsely. All that yelling had worn out her throat. "Good job, Michael!"  
  
"Thanks," he grinned. "I was worried there, at the end with Hertel...good game, Kathryn."  
  
The Hufflepuff Seeker paused. "You too, Weasley."  
  
"Where have you been for a month?" Chris practically yelled at Rachel and Michael. "And you for two weeks?" he added to Liz. "This lesson plot is really tough, even when we have a lesson once a week. And the last one really couldn't count as a lesson. All you did was teach me how to brew that Snap potion. At least I've kept my word. I've been practicing."  
  
Liz knew he was mad because he was frustrated, and he had a right to be. Rachel and Michael had been so mad at Liz that they hadn't visited Chris at all, and Liz was so busy moping that only visited once. She had actually been planning to stay for less time than she had, but Hagrid had caught them stealing ingredients from his garden.  
  
"We're really sorry, Chris," Liz said. "And we'll do better. What should we teach you today?"  
  
But before anything could be decided, Hagrid emerged from his cabin. "Over here, the four o' yeh," he called to them. They obliged.  
  
"Now I know yeh think yer doin' good, an' I know yeh think I don' know, bu' I do. Yer teachin' Chris magic. Is tha' right?"  
  
Liz looked around at the others and nodded.  
  
"See there, I knew. An' it wasn' like yeh weren' leavin' a trail o' clues a mile wide. I firs' got suspicious-like when my garden was set on fire. Then yeh tried ter turn down 'ot chocolate on the coldes' day we've seen in these parts for a long time, Liz. An' last time yeh were over here, yeh plucked my garden ter shreds! I jus' wanna let yeh know, trainin' Squibs without a license is against Ministry laws, an' I'll have no part of it, an' neither should you. Tha's all." And with a savage nod, he went right back into his cabin.  
  
The four of them were silent. Liz looked up at the others. "So, as I was saying, what will we teach today?"  
  
The other three stared in disbelief. "Liz," Chris said finally, "it's against the law. You heard Hagrid."  
  
"Hagrid's one to talk. Do you remember his breeding experiments, Chris?" Chris cringed and nodded. "Besides, we've put too much time into this to give up. And I know you can do it, Chris, I really do. Right, you two?"  
  
Rachel and Michael mumbled halfhearted agreements.  
  
"Fine," Chris said. "I'll do it. But if Hagrid notices anymore, we stop."  
  
"Absolutely. Do you want to skip today? I think we've been through enough, don't you?"  
  
Chris said, "Sure," so they left. Liz noticed Rachel biting her lip and Michael rubbing his temple like he did when he was anxious. They were feeling just as she was: decidedly uneasy about the whole thing. 


	10. Birthday at Midnight

Chapter 10 – Birthday at Midnight  
  
Liz's birthday had been marked on her calendar for weeks. The night before, she set her clock to seven in the morning, as early as she could afford to get up. Her mother would probably send her another letter, and she wanted to be awake to receive it.  
  
In the middle of the night, she woke up. Turning her head, she glanced at the clock, which was flashing 11:59. She was almost thirteen.  
  
It clicked to 12:00.  
  
Her body stiffened. She couldn't move. It was as if she was paralyzed. All sorts of thoughts flashed in her mind, in rhythm with the flashing of the clock, including, "I'm dying," very briefly. A series of shocks and jolts of heat coursed through her body as she lay there, panicking. What was happening? Why couldn't she move? Was this what death felt like? If it was, she wanted to just die and end it...aches and pain wracked her tortured body, but a sense of power was coming to her, the kind of power that is invincible, that has a mind of its own...  
  
The clock clicked to 12:01.  
  
And as suddenly as it had come, it stopped. The pain and panic were gone, and she could move. The only thing that lingered was the overwhelming sense of power. Liz flexed her fingers and wriggled her toes to make sure she hadn't died. There was no logical explanation for what had just happened.  
  
With a yawn, she rolled over in bed and went back to sleep.  
  
In the morning, her alarm clock woke her up. Sitting on her bedpost was the snowy owl. Careful not to wake the other Gryffindor girls, Liz tiptoed to the owl. "You do come early, don't you?" she whispered, detaching the letter from the owl's leg. She opened it and read:  
  
Dear Elizabeth,  
Happy birthday! I love you. You are officially a teenager now. Being a teenager can be so much fun. I'll write again soon. Goodbye.  
Luna  
  
Liz opened the tiny package taped to the letter. Inside was a miniscule book light. Liz flicked on the switch, and the room was flooded with light. She heard Rachel mutter, "Too bright," in her sleep. Liz immediately turned it off. Very useful.  
  
As it was too early to go down to breakfast alone, Liz took out her mother's Christmas present, the paper-thin book entitled The Mind Revealed, and re-read it twice. The same message came to mind: Don't read Secrets of the Mind. It was very strange.  
  
"Is it morning already?" Rachel asked sleepily, getting out of her bed. "Oh, yeah, it's your birthday."  
  
Liz nodded, putting her book away.  
  
"Here. Happy birthday!" Rachel handed Liz a gift. It was a book of poetry.  
  
"Wow, thanks, Rachel," Liz said. "It's great."  
  
"Glad you like it. It's so hard getting gifts, you know?"  
  
The two girls changed and headed down to the common room, where they met Michael. He had a present, too. "Open it."  
  
Liz did. It was a bag of candy. "The perfect gift," Rachel remarked.  
  
"The only thing I could afford," Michael said.  
  
Liz sat thinking. Where was her mother now? What was the owl's name? And why had that happened this morning?  
  
It was mid-April. Spring was in full swing. Liz really couldn't enjoy the outdoors because she wanted another letter from her mother. She wanted to tell someone. She needed someone to know. It was agony, harboring a secret that no one could understand.  
  
Chris. Chris would understand. And it was his birthday today, so she would have an excuse to visit. With all the letters tucked inside various pockets in her robes, Liz set off for Hagrid's cabin, a gift in hand.  
  
"Liz! Nice ter see yeh, nice ter see yeh. Where's Rachel an' Michael?" Hagrid said, looking around.  
  
"Up at the castle," Liz said evasively. "Where's Chris?"  
  
"Inside. I'll get him for yeh." He stepped inside and came back out with Chris.  
  
"Hello," Liz smiled, holding out the present. "Happy birthday."  
  
"You remembered!" he said delightedly. "Thanks."  
  
Liz beamed as he tore into it. It was a wand. He looked up, confused. Hagrid tried to look over his shoulder, but Liz motioned for Chris to follow her so Hagrid wouldn't see. "What's this?" he asked as soon as Hagrid shut the door. "I thought the wand had to choose the wizard. That's what Hagrid said, anyway."  
  
"It changes to fit the wizard's or witch's need," Liz said. "I thought it would be helpful, since my wand obviously isn't doing well for you. Do you like it?"  
  
"It's great. I can't believe you remembered my birthday. Where're Rachel and Michael?"  
  
"They had a lot of homework, but they send birthday wishes." Even though they had done nothing of the sort.  
  
"Ah." Chris seemed to understand, somehow.  
  
Liz thought about how to bring up the subject she wanted, no, needed to talk about, and decided there was no easy way. "Chris, I need to tell you something."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Look at this." She unfurled a letter, the first letter, from her mother and handed it to Chris. He scanned it quickly, and then he read it slower. Blinking, he looked up at Liz.  
  
"Luna. Your mother? When did you get this?"  
  
"Last year, and I've been getting them ever since. You see what this means? Do you understand? She's sending me mail!"  
  
"Liz, your mother can't be sending you mail. She's dead."  
  
Liz blinked back the tears that threatened to flood her bright face. How could he not believe her? Here was proof. A dead woman did not send mail!  
  
He would think she had gone insane. She wished it hadn't happened. She wished she could erase his memory of it or something. Wait, she could! A Memory Charm! It was horribly complex, though...but she would just have to try.  
  
"I'm really sorry," she whispered. "Obliviate!"  
  
The force of the spell hit him head-on. He blinked stupidly for a moment, and then stared up at a tree. "Green," he said thickly.  
  
"Disorientation," Liz murmured. "A side effect. How could I forget?" To Chris, she said, "Chris?"  
  
He shook his head again and looked at her, back to normal. "What?"  
  
"Um...what were you saying about my mother?"  
  
"Your mother? Nothing, I didn't...wait, I don't remember. I think I have a headache. I'm going to go inside. I'll owl you."  
  
"Happy birthday," she said.  
  
"Thanks. Thanks for the present. Bye!"  
  
He walked to the cabin, stumbling every few steps from the spell. Liz shook her head. She felt horrible for doing that to him, but it was the only way.  
  
"A Quidditch match? TODAY?" Liz bellowed. "But I've got to study! Exams are in a month and a half! Do you realize that I'm so behind schedule it's not even funny?" Rachel snickered. "It's not funny!"  
  
"See, I've come up with s solution for the problem we have every time there's a match," said Michael. They were upstairs in the common room, not twenty minutes before the start of the game. "Bring your books."  
  
Liz scowled up at him. "Fine."  
  
And so, twenty minutes later, Liz sat in the stands with a book in her lap, trying to concentrate on the match and her studies at the same time.  
  
"No, dive, dive!" Rachel yelled at the Ravenclaw Chaser, waving her arms.  
  
"No, see, then the Slytherin Keeper will block a low shot. A high shot is better," Michael told her. "A Quaffle doesn't fly, so gravity will take it."  
  
"In 1596 the Department for Control of Magical Creatures instituted a new course for the curriculum of Hogwarts called Care of Magical Creatures...Oh, this is no use," she yelled, getting to her feet irritably. "I can't study when I can't hear myself THINK!"  
  
"Quiet down," Michael said. "I'm trying to watch the game."  
  
Liz was grouchy, but she booed with the rest as the Slytherin Seeker swooped down and caught the Snitch. 


	11. Winifred Chen

Chapter 11 – Winifred Chen  
  
Exams were almost with them. Liz spent most of her free time in the common room or the Great Hall studying. The thing that bothered her most was the fact that others didn't follow her example. Instead, they sat around reading Secrets of the Mind all day long. Professor Nilworg would enter the Great Hall, occasionally, and smile around at all her fans. Then she would see Liz, and her grin would fade a little, only to be replaced with a complacent stare.  
  
"I've got it, I read it, and I love it," said Michael.  
  
Liz looked up. It was lunchtime, and Michael and Rachel had made Liz put her book down to hear what they had to say. "Got what?" she asked.  
  
"Jessica's copy of the book, Secrets of the Mind. It's awesome."  
  
"It really is," Rachel agreed. "Here, you read it."  
  
Liz reached out for it, but then she remembered what she had thought after reading The Mind Revealed: Don't read Secrets of the Mind. "No, I don't think so. Do you want to read The Mind Revealed? I got it a really long time ago, for Christmas. It's really good."  
  
To Liz's surprise, both Michael and Rachel looked at each other, and then glared at her. "What?" she asked.  
  
"What makes you think we would want to read a stupid book like that?" Rachel snapped.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The Mind Revealed," Michael retorted. "It's so stupid. Don't even mention that book."  
  
Rachel nodded righteously. "That author is trying to rip poor Professor Nilworg off."  
  
"Poor Professor Nilworg?" Liz repeated disbelievingly. "Since when has she been poor? Everyone loves her!"  
  
"And with good reason, too. Her book is wonderful," Rachel said.  
  
"It's just a book!" Liz protested. They gasped, having never thought they would hear those words coming out of her mouth. "Stop being so crazy about it."  
  
They looked back at her and sighed. "Fine," Michael said, sounding disappointed. "We won't bother you about it."  
  
"But you will eventually read it," Rachel said in an ominous, low voice that Liz pretended not to hear.  
  
Why were they suddenly so against the Mind Revealed? What was so special about Secrets of the Mind? When did Professor Nilworg become such a hero? To Liz, she had become even less of a hero, almost as mean to her as Snape. Maybe it was because she seemed to be the only one who hadn't read her book. Why was it such a huge deal? Liz just wanted to finish the school year so she wouldn't be surrounded by obsessed fans of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who wasn't that great anyway.  
  
Somehow, Liz's thoughts wandered to the Dragon, the man who had attempted to capture the Hogwarts students to become immortal. He had said he would be back as he flew off, defeated. Why was he keeping quiet right now, as everyone forgot about him? This would be the most opportune time, wouldn't it? He was lying low at the exact time he should be rising up. Maybe he had been captured. No, it would have been all over the news. Something had to be going on.  
  
Snape had been horrible to Liz since the episode with the Snap potion. He sneered at her, degraded her work, and praised the Slytherins, Winnie especially. Winnie acted like she owned the potions classroom in the dungeon. Liz finally couldn't take it anymore, and she decided to get back at her.  
  
Winnie strutted into the Potions dungeon one afternoon, not noticing the smile Liz was trying to hide. She got to her cauldron and looked at the nameplate: WINIFRED CHEN.  
  
Liz could almost see Winnie's blood boil. She had learned from Professor Weasley's mistake one day at lunch that Winnie hated to be called by her real name, Winifred.  
  
Winnie got white around the mouth and took out her box of potion ingredients. The label read WINIFRED CHEN. Winnie glanced furiously around the room and spotted Liz trying to stifle a laugh.  
  
"You!" she screamed, launching herself at Liz. Liz's stifled giggle soon transformed into a high-pitched shriek. They hit the floor, and stars winked before Liz's eyes. Shaking her head, she thought quickly. If and when Snape finally entered the classroom, he couldn't possibly punish her if she didn't do anything. So, painfully, she let Winnie claw at her, rip out strands of hair, and dig long nails into her skin.  
  
Rachel and Michael tugged at Winnie, trying to get her off. "No...don't..." Liz rasped. She didn't want them to get in trouble either.  
  
"You...you think you're better than everyone else because your dad was some big hero...well, look how ended...he died, didn't—"  
  
At that, Liz attacked. She could withstand taunts about herself or physical attacks, but assaults on her parents' memories got to her. In a moment Liz was on Winnie, not the one being attacked but the attacker, hurting her as much as she could.  
  
Snape chose that moment to enter the dungeon. "What is going on here?" he raged.  
  
A babble of talk broke out. The Gryffindors backed up Liz, and the Slytherins stood up for Winnie. Snape held up his hand to stop them. His beady eyes surveyed Liz and Winnie. Liz had definitely come off worse in the battle. She had two black eyes, a bloody nose, long scratched down her arms, and some hair missing. All Liz managed to do to Winnie was give her a black eye.  
  
"What happened?" Snape demanded.  
  
"Winnie jumped on me, sir, she—"  
  
"Not you. Her."  
  
Liz's heart sank. Snape had seen her attack Winnie. He would believe anything and everything Winnie told him. Winnie grinned maniacally, but then she touched her eye and gave an overly dramatic wince.  
  
"Professor Snape, Liz just jumped on me for no reason. I tried to fight back, but it was no use." She looked appealingly up at Professor Snape. If Liz had been telling it and said that she fought back, she would have been instantly handed in detention. For Winnie, Snape stayed silent. A forced, phony tear leaked out the corner of Winnie's eye. "And then she did this," Winnie sobbed, gingerly touching her eye.  
  
Snape turned on Liz. "No, Professor, I didn't—she insulted my father!"  
  
Instead of becoming sympathetic, Snape grew even angrier. "Detention, Miss Potter. And fifty points from Gryffindor."  
  
"What?" Liz cried, injured.  
  
"Sixty points."  
  
"But...but I..."  
  
"Must I make it a nice seventy?" Snape threatened calmly. Pinching her nose, Liz grudgingly sat back down. Winnie's smirk almost stretched her face to the breaking point.  
  
Winnie was horrible. Snape was unfair. In the same room, they were torturous. How could they be so mean? Liz accidentally spattered blood in her cauldron as Snape began teaching.  
  
"I think my nose is broken," Liz moaned at dinner one evening, very early in June. Her nose was swollen and spotted with ruddy blotches.  
  
"No, it's not," Rachel said.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"We weren't going to tell you," said Michael, "but since you brought it up, we saw Patsy Casarez shooting curses at you when Winnie was beating you up."  
  
"She's like her sidekick, isn't she?" said Liz.  
  
"Go see Madame Lesille," Rachel suggested.  
  
"I will. Tonight at my detention. Snape has me organizing the medicine cabinets and putting sheets on all the beds. Is that nuts or what?"  
  
"Nuts. Completely.  
  
"So," said Liz, "have you filled out your new class forms yet?"  
  
"Oh, that reminds me," Michael said. "My mum told me to tell you not to sign up for everything. You didn't, did you?"  
  
"Yeah," Liz said sadly. "Help me decide, I want to turn it in to Professor Weasley in Transfiguration tomorrow." She took out her form, and the three of them crowded around it. "What did you two sign up for?"  
  
"Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies," said Rachel. Michael agreed somewhat sheepishly.  
  
"Of course Care of Magical Creatures," Liz said, writing it in. "Then we can see Hagrid and Chris a lot more often. Which remind me, we need to have another lesson."  
  
"Exams are coming up. He'll understand. Now put Muggle Studies," said Michael.  
  
"No, I don't think I want to do Muggle Studies. How about...Ancient Runes?"  
  
"That sounds complicated. Just be with us in Muggle Studies," said Rachel. "You're not going to be by yourself, are you? That would be no fun."  
  
Liz ignored her. "Ancient Runes sounds good. I think I'll do that." She filled in the last bit of the parchment, finished her dinner, and set off for the common room for some study time. 


	12. Secrets in Print

Chapter 12 – Secrets in Print  
  
"Exams. I positively hate exams," Rachel said on their way to the Potions exam.  
  
"Wouldn't that be negatively?" Michael said offhandedly.  
  
Students streamed in packs around them, quizzing each other and saying how their parents would go mad if they did badly. Liz annoyed Rachel and Michael by saying how disappointed she'd be if she got anything wrong.  
  
"Which we know you won't, of course," Michael teased. "You never get anything less than perfect."  
  
"Yes, I do. On that first Potions written exam I got that one question wrong—"  
  
"Oh, one question! How horrible!" Rachel said. Seeing the look on Liz's face, she hastily added, "You know I'm just joking. Here we are."  
  
Liz peered despairingly in. Snape was at the very front of the classroom, looking delighted at the prospect of failing so many students at once. He spotted Liz. "Come in, Miss Potter, and take your exam." His voice challenged her to do well, all for a grade she was bound not to get anyway.  
  
"Calm down, it'll be fine, it's our last exam, relax," Rachel hissed through gritted teeth. "Don't worry, you'll do great."  
  
In Liz's opinion, the exam could have gone worse. Granted, Winnie still took her opportunity for revenge and spilled Liz's Anti-Boil Solution on Thomas Needham, but he had just inadvertently covered himself in boils, so they healed and Liz was proved correct. Snape merely sniffed pretentiously at her potion, meaning he couldn't find anything to degrade, belittle, or criticize. Liz left the room feeling very triumphant. The others, though, weren't so quick to rejoice at the end of exams.  
  
"We were supposed to be making an Anti-Boil Solution?" was Thomas Needham's view of it.  
  
"I'm sure he got an A," Rachel said sarcastically. "What color were they supposed to be?"  
  
"Purple," Liz and Michael chorused.  
  
"Do you think brown counts?"  
  
Michael laughed and shook his head.  
  
They got to the Great hall. All around people were reading Secrets of the Mind. To Liz's dismay, Rachel and Michael took out their books (they had bought their own copies) and began to read too.  
  
"What are you doing?" Liz hissed at them.  
  
"Reading," they answered automatically.  
  
"I can see that, but why? You've already read it three hundred billion times!"  
  
"Makes it three hundred billion and one," said Michael.  
  
Liz turned around and crossed her arms. This was out of control. What was going on with these books?  
  
A head of light brown bobbed toward Liz in the sea of bent necks. It was Nora. "Liz! Liz! Matthew finally lent me the book! I can read it! You want to read it after me?"  
  
"Fine," said Liz. Then she could finally see what all the fuss was about.  
  
Nora sat down at the Gryffindor table. Over a hundred eyes shifted toward her warily and then back to their books. Nora cracked open the front cover and began to read. Liz watched her carefully.  
  
A strange change was taking place on Nora. Her eyes seemed to be revolving in their sockets. They changed colors, and her pupils disappeared and reappeared many times. Her body stiffened and relaxed. Her head dropped onto her chest.  
  
Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Nora's head snapped up, and she held out the book to Liz. "Here, your turn."  
  
Liz's eyes widened. "N-no, I don't think so. Maybe later, s-sometime." She got up and walked away.  
  
What had happened? The books were turning people bad? Liz suddenly remembered the letter Luna had sent her early in the year about a magazine that made everyone go insane. Maybe this was something like it. Maybe they were being—hypnotized!  
  
What could she do? She would follow Nora. Whoever was doing this might make her do something, and Liz needed to be there to stop it. She could bring Michael and Rachel—but no, they were hypnotized too! Was she the only one not taken over by the book? Liz glanced at the rows of students, all reading. Yes, she was.  
  
Nora got up to leave the Great Hall, and Liz followed surreptitiously. Her cousin disappeared behind a statue that moved aside when she said, "Bananas," so Liz supposed that was the entrance to the Hufflepuff House. Liz hid behind a nearby pillar and waited.  
  
She found she had dozed off when she awoke to a grating sound. The statue was moving again. Nora emerged, followed by the rest of the Hufflepuffs. Liz was strongly reminded of her dream about everyone leaving Gryffindor Tower...maybe it hadn't been a dream. It had been real. Liz shouldered this knowledge, swallowed her courage, and followed the hypnotized Hufflepuffs.  
  
This took her all the way to the great Hall. Up near the High Table were two figures. One was Professor Nilworg, a malicious grin lining her face. The other had a hood on, so Liz couldn't see his or her face, but she thought she had a pretty good idea who it was.  
  
The students all took their seats at the respective tables, as though for dinner. Liz nervously sat behind Michael. At the exact same moment, every head snapped toward the hooded figure.  
  
A thrill of dread raced down Liz's spine. She was now absolutely sure of whom it was. Her instincts proved correct when the figure threw back his hood to reveal...the Dragon.  
  
"They have come," he whispered. Those three words crept down Liz's back, chilling her to the bone. "My goal is finally about to be realized. I will master Hogwarts!"  
  
Professor Nilworg cackled next to him.  
  
The Dragon began issuing orders for groups of students to go subdue the teachers. "You there," he shouted, pointing to the students around and next to Liz, "take on the giant and the Squib." And he moved on to others.  
  
Rachel and Michael stood, and Liz hastened to follow. As she passed the Dragon, he laughed. "You thought you could defeat me. I am now in control of you." Liz determinedly didn't look at him. "Go."  
  
Liz followed her classmates out the doors and onto the grounds, all the while thinking quickly. If she made a run for the cabin to get to Hagrid and Chris first to warn them of the approaching danger, would her friends come after her instead? They might, and they might not. Liz considered it for only a moment more, and then she broke ranks and ran for it, not looking back.  
  
After a minute of harder running than Liz had ever ran in her life, Liz chanced a glance back. No one seemed to have noticed that she wasn't with the horde of zombie-like students anymore. Liz rested, her hands on her knees, breathing hard. She rarely ran, and she wasn't sure she could make it. But she had to try.  
  
She put on a burst of speed and took off. Somehow, she managed to reach Hagrid's door. "Hagrid!" she panted. "Open up! Let me in! HAGRID!"  
  
The door swung open. "What's the matter?" Hagrid asked.  
  
"There's...there's people...they're coming...to get you...you've got to...got to hide or something," Liz gasped desperately.  
  
"Liz, what are you doing here?" said Chris appearing in the doorway from the kitchen.  
  
"Maybe yeh need ter sit down," Hagrid suggested.  
  
"No!" Liz cried in protest. "No, you've got to get out of here, they're coming for you..."  
  
"Who's coming?"  
  
"The students...they're hypnotized...we've got to leave! It's the Dragon and Professor Nilworg, they're in this together, he's trying to take over Hogwarts—"  
  
"Calm down, tell us the whole story, Liz," Chris said.  
  
"There's no time!" Liz yelled. "They'll be here any minute now!"  
  
Hagrid's face paled. "The Dragon?"  
  
"We don't have time to go anywhere, and we don't have anywhere to go," said Chris. "Can we barricade the door?"  
  
"How many of them are there?" Hagrid asked.  
  
"The first- and second-year Gryffindors, so about twenty," said Liz. "Minus me."  
  
"We c'n do it," said Hagrid. "Wait, scratch that. I c'n do it. You two go in the back an' take cover. Go!"  
  
"Hagrid, we—"  
  
"Don' do that ter me, Chris! Take Liz and hide, just in case I can' hold 'em off."  
  
Chris stood firmly for a moment, and then dropped his stance. "Come on, Liz."  
  
"No, I don't want to leave Hagrid by himself."  
  
"Go on—oomph," Hagrid grunted as a jolt shook the house down to its very foundation. "I'll hold 'em."  
  
Chris grabbed Liz by the arm and pulled her to the kitchen. "Liz, I brewed a Snap potion all by myself."  
  
"Chris, this really isn't the time—"  
  
"No, don't you see? We can use it on someone to un-hypnotize them!"  
  
"Chris, you're right, I—"  
  
Just then, another jolt rocked the cabin. Following it was a thud and a dull moan from Hagrid. Liz clamped herself to the wall as the door was flung open. 


	13. Return of the Dragon

Chapter 13 – Return of the Dragon  
  
It was Michael. Next to him was Rachel. The rest of them filed in, eyes dull and unfocused from the spell. Chris's breathing came harsh and ragged. "Get out, Liz. Go."  
  
"Where is there to go?" she breathed.  
  
His eyes darted from the cabinet that held his Snap potion to the window, too high for either of them to read. "You're right. We can't escape."  
  
"We've got to get the potion," Liz said.  
  
"How?"  
  
Liz thought. "Give me a minute."  
  
"We don't have a minute!"  
  
Liz was silent for a second. "Wingardium Leviosa."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Wingardium Leviosa. Float me up there. You have your wand with you, don't you?"  
  
Chris tore his eyes away from the Dragon's advancing minions to stare at her in disbelief. "You aren't serious?"  
  
"Completely. We've got to do it."  
  
Chris hesitated for a moment. "Fine. Ready?"  
  
"Ready."  
  
"One, two, three. GO! Wingardium Leviosa!"  
  
Liz was lifted bodily and hurled at the open cabinet. She reached out, caught, and hung on the edge. Chris tried to yell out, but Rachel caught him around the throat and throttled him. Many of the others closed in behind her.  
  
"I wish we had more of this. We'll need it," Liz thought. Then something bubbled, welling up inside of her. It was that same invincible power that had overtaken her the night of her birthday. It shifted through her body and burst. The next thing Liz knew, there were a hundred or so bottles of the potion in the cabinet. Without a thought as to what this could mean, Liz dropped to the counter, opened a bottle, and sent it spiraling at Rachel, whose fingers were tightening around Chris' throat. Rachel immediately snapped out of it.  
  
A dozen of the hypnotized students were groping at Liz's ankles. She dumped the contents of another bottle on them. Michael was next to wake, then John, then Alberta, then the rest of them. They blinked confusedly. A few stared at Chris, who was panting hard against a wall.  
  
"What happened?" Michael wondered aloud.  
  
"Professor Nilworg's book. It hypnotized you. And what happened to Hagrid?" Liz said.  
  
"I don't know," said Rachel. "I remember seeing him unconscious under a door...but it's all so fuzzy..."  
  
"Everyone is still out there, taking down the teachers," Liz said worriedly. "We've got to do something about this."  
  
A few of the first-years looked petrified.  
  
"The Dragon is trying to take over Hogwarts! Don't any of you understand?"  
  
"Liz is right," said Michael. "We can't just let this happen. We should fight back."  
  
A murmur of dissent passed through the crowded kitchen. A tiny first-year voice whimpered, "But it's the Dragon..."  
  
"I know it's the Dragon! He's trying to torture and kill us all! What do you not get?"  
  
"Let's go find him," said Rachel. "Who's with us?"  
  
Only Chris came forward.  
  
"Fine," said Liz angrily, "just fine. Stay in here and watch your school get blown to bits. Watch as he makes this place just as evil as him. We're going to do something about it!" And the four of them marched out, making sure to step carefully over Hagrid.  
  
"We'll be back. Don't worry," Liz assured Chris, seeing him look worriedly back at his unconscious friend.  
  
No sooner had they made it outside than a whirlwind, whooshing sound filled the air around them and the Dragon emerged from nowhere. Rachel backed up tensely. Professor Nilworg appeared next to him.  
  
"You, Elizabeth Potter, you manage to do it again," the Dragon said softly. "Twice in a row you try to take me on. Why do you believe you can beat me at my own game? No, Pansy, I have unfinished business with this one." Professor Nilworg had advanced on Liz, drawing her wand.  
  
"Pansy?" Liz asked. Maybe if she kept him talking, she could formulate a plan before he did anything.  
  
"Pansy Parkinson," Professor Nilworg said. "Aid to the Dragon. I was placed here to keep watch over the future army of ours. Penny Nilworg is a pseudonym. I thought surely Elizabeth Potter, the one who was reputed to have top marks in her class, would figure it out, but you didn't suspect a thing. Even when your best friends turned on you over the other book, you didn't see farther into it."  
  
"The Mind Revealed," the Dragon growled.  
  
"That threw a wrench into our plans," Professor Nilworg, or Pansy Parkinson, spat contemptuously. "You, the lone resister of our scheme, you read that book and refused to read mine. The Squib would be dead if it weren't for that, and I would have had you see to it."  
  
Liz swallowed dryly. The thought that, without her mother's Christmas present, she would have killed Chris was appalling. Michael joined Rachel and stepped back.  
  
"I will still rule Hogwarts," said the dragon, his voice low and menacing. "Like the Dark Lord before me, I will attempt to bring the next generation of evil to the world, but I will succeed!" He was roaring to the sky now, and then stars flickered at his voice. Then he dropped his gaze to Liz. "You first. Crucio!"  
  
Liz screamed, a thousand white-hot knives pounding into her flesh. The pain, the pain was agonizing, it was the opposite of death, it was life, thirteen years of pain and suffering in only a few minutes...  
  
And as suddenly as it started, it was gone. Liz didn't get up, just lay there breathing hard and fast, hoping he wouldn't do it again.  
  
"May I have a turn?" the woman named Parkinson inquired of the Dragon.  
  
"Certainly."  
  
She raised her wand, but before she could get any words out, a huge rock following an incantation of, "Wingardium Leviosa!" came flying at her, knocking her over and causing a patch of blood to seep through her robes.  
  
"Chris!" Rachel cried. "You can do it!"  
  
"I know I can! Run! RUN!" Chris yelled. They did. Liz thought faintly, "Too much running," before the Dragon began firing Stunners. "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!"  
  
"Duck!" yelled Michael, lunging at Liz. He bowled her over as the spell shot over their heads. Liz smelled singed hair.  
  
"Get up, get up, run!" he urged. Liz scrambled to her feet behind him. Just ahead, Rachel had tripped and Chris was helping her up.  
  
"Stupefy!" yelled Parkinson. Liz bent her head at exactly the right moment. It shot above her and hit Chris in the back of the head. He pitched forward and landed facedown.  
  
"Chris!" Liz and Rachel shrieked together.  
  
"Get up, get up, run, they won't kill him," said Michael.  
  
"What makes you so sure of that?" said the Dragon. In two long strides, he was at Chris' side. He grabbed his hair, wrenched him up, and pointed his wand at his heart. "Try me."  
  
The three of them stopped. They couldn't let the Dragon kill their friends.  
  
"Stupefy! Stupefy!" yelled Parkinson as soon as their guard was down. The spells were one until a moment before they struck Liz; they split and hit Rachel and Michael in the face.  
  
"Now it's only you. Crucio!" The pain began again. Then it stopped abruptly. Liz wondered dazedly what had happened when she saw it. It was a huge stag, antlers sticking out at odd angles. It charged at Pansy Parkinson, knocking her unconscious and out of the way. Then it came at the Dragon, stabbing him with the antlers. With a cry of rage, the Dragon grabbed at the animal and missed. Liz started to rise from her place on the ground, but the Dragon, trying to keep his leg from bleeding, raised his wand threateningly. "Don't move," he warned.  
  
Liz's mind was spinning. She knew, if she waited too much longer, she would pass out and not know when the Dragon killed her. So she took another step.  
  
"Impedimenta!" the Dragon yelled. The force of the spell threw Liz back. Before she lost consciousness, she saw the stag ram the Dragon one more time, and then everything went black. 


	14. Hospital Wing

Chapter 14 – Hospital Wing  
  
Liz awoke in a warm and fluffy bed. For a minute she didn't open her eyes and waited for her ears to turn on. Soon she heard, "I don't believe she hasn't woken up yet...what's wrong..."  
  
Liz's eyes snapped open. Rachel, Michael, and Chris were sitting in chairs around her bed. Madame Lesille bustled around in the background. All three of her friends looked pretty well beaten up. Rachel had a round bump on the back of her head, and she winced when she touched it. Michael's hair was burnt on the top from the spell he had protected Liz from, and he had a long scratch down his cheek. Chris looked the worst. He had dried blood pooling from his nostrils, and there were scrapes and scratches all over his face, one long one covered by a bandage.  
  
"You're awake," Rachel said, relieved. "I was getting worried! We," she added quickly, "were getting worried."  
  
"Professors Weasley and McGonagall came in here," said Chris. "We were only Stunned, so they woke us up, but McGonagall said you needed your rest."  
  
Liz sat up. Her head felt heavy. "What happened?"  
  
"Hagrid got up and saw her," said Michael, pointing. For the first time, Liz noticed that the woman called Pansy Parkinson was unconscious in another of the hospital wing. "The Dragon was nowhere to be found. Hagrid went up to McGonagall's office and knocked all the kids out of the way."  
  
"Where are they?" Liz asked.  
  
"After she got Snape to get some Snap potion, McGonagall conjured all these beds for the Great Hall. Then her and Hagrid went to go get all the rest of them," Rachel said. "Then they came up here, woke us up, and interviewed her about what happened."  
  
"So...what happened?"  
  
"Well, after she woke up, the Dragon was gone," said Chris. "He abandoned her. She'll be spending a week in St. Mungo's and years in Azkaban for this one."  
  
"So no one's hypnotized anymore?" said Liz, lying back down.  
  
"No one," said Rachel.  
  
Liz was about to mention to mention the stag, but then she remembered they hadn't been awake when it had injured the Dragon. And if he had been wounded, where had he gone? He couldn't Apparate or Disapparate inside the grounds, so that was ruled out. Pondering this made her head spin, so she tried to stop.  
  
Chris noticed. "Are you feeling all right?"  
  
"What? Oh, yes, fine, just a headache."  
  
"Yeah, me too." He grinned. "But we stopped 'em, didn't we? You and Rachel and Michael and me."  
  
"Mostly you," said Liz.  
  
"How's that?" he asked, confused.  
  
"Without your Snap potion, they would have strangled us. See? You can do it. I told you."  
  
Chris turned red. "I guess so. We can continue next year, if you want."  
  
"Only if you're up to it."  
  
He nodded.  
  
Madame Lesille came over. "Good, you're awake. Drink this." She handed a bottled potion to Liz. "I considered giving it to you earlier, but I didn't fancy using a funnel."  
  
Liz nearly choked on her potion. Rachel laughed.  
  
"So how're all the students take it?" asked Liz, taking another sip of her potion. It tasted like watermelon.  
  
"Oh, fine. A couple of the first-years started crying, but Mum said your cousin Nora thought all of it a great adventure. I reckon she's off her rocker, you know?" said Michael thoughtfully.  
  
"Probably," Liz agreed. "But she's still really sweet, even if she is a little...you know, odd."  
  
Right on cue, the door opened. It was Nora, closely followed by her brother Carl, who Liz had only said hi to in the halls. Nora stumbled on the hem of her robes, which were too long for her, and took an unoccupied chair next to Liz's bed. Carl stood behind her.  
  
"We heard what happened," Carl said, a bit unnecessarily.  
  
"And we came to see how you are," said Nora.  
  
"I'm fine," Liz replied. "Who told you?"  
  
"McGonagall, I expect," said Rachel.  
  
"Yeah, it was her," said Carl. "We were thinking you'd like to meet our dad. Your uncle. Y'know, your mum's brother. Maybe we can meet up in Diagon Alley."  
  
"Maybe so," said Liz, grinning. "I'd like that." For once she didn't cringe at the mention of her mother, for she was convinced that her mother was alive, even if no one else believed her. At this thought, Liz cast a glance at Chris, who noticed nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
Liz spent the next week in the hospital wing, more because she didn't want to see everybody else than she was hurt. At last she had to leave to make room for a Slytherin boy who had fallen down the stairs. She gave up her separation from prodding eyes reluctantly.  
  
"This took Nilworg—oh, er, um, Pansy Parkinson to St. Mungo's today," said Michael. "Mum told me. They had to do a full Body-Bind on her before they left, so she wouldn't try to escape. Isn't that wicked?"  
  
"Serves her right," Liz said. "After all she'd done this year, I'm glad to see her go."  
  
The rumors behind Nilworg/Parkinson flew everywhere, but the ones following the Dragon and Liz were enormous. Somehow, people seemed to think that, all by herself, Liz had taken out all the first- and second-year Gryffindors, revived Hagrid, and beaten the Dragon and Parkinson, again all by herself (none of the rumors mentioned where Hagrid was). Another one said that Liz had let the Dragon escape. Professor McGonagall quashed that one thoroughly at the end-of-year feast.  
  
It was two days after the destruction of every copy of Secrets of the Mind. Many people had gladly gotten rid of it, but some of the Slytherins, like Winnie Chen, had been reluctant to give theirs up. Liz loved the end-of- year feast, except for what it represented: the return to the Smiths household for another Emma-filled summer. She sat quietly between Rachel and John as Professor McGonagall spoke.  
  
"It is the end of another year. Surely all of you have learned a bit this year, even if you were hypnotized." Liz saw Jessica Weasley shift uncomfortably in her seat. "And points need to be awarded to the one who stopped this dilemma from becoming out of control."  
  
Liz flushed crimson. Her reputation as a teacher's pet was now engraved in stone.  
  
"I award Elizabeth Potter two hundred points."  
  
The groans of Slytherins, who had taken the Quidditch Cup, were drowned out by an exploding cheer from the Gryffindors, who had now won the House Cup.  
  
The next morning, the Hogwarts Express pulled up. Liz took Luna down from the Owlery and loaded her and Sunny onto the train. Then she, Michael, and Rachel went to say goodbye to Chris and Hagrid.  
  
"You've got to write," said Liz.  
  
Rachel added, "To all of us."  
  
Chris grinned. "I will. You too."  
  
Liz hugged him goodbye, and so did Rachel. Michael shook his hand. Then Hagrid gathered the four of them into a bone-breaking embrace.  
  
"Okay—Hagrid—can't breathe—" Chris choked.  
  
Hagrid finally released them and said goodbye. Chris promised to write one more time, and then they had to leave.  
  
"I really don't want to go home," Liz said. "Emma. Ugh."  
  
"I do. They say third year starts getting hard," said Rachel. "And we'll write. Don't worry."  
  
"You'd better, or I don't know what I'll do. Go mad, probably."  
  
"We'll write," said Michael.  
  
Winnie Chen passed by their compartment, silently boiling. Liz noted that, miraculously, Winnie's black eye still hadn't healed yet. Liz settled back in her chair to think.  
  
Her mother was on her mind. So were new classes and her friends. So were the stag and the Dragon. But her one foremost thought was her incidence with the Snap potion. It had multiplied just as she wished it so. And at that moment she had felt so powerful, strength beyond any imagination. Something was going on, but what? And would she even find out what it was?  
  
Liz dozed off after discussing with Michael and Rachel what Care of Magical Creatures would be like. She woke up when the train jolted to a halt.  
  
"Come on, get off," a passing prefect told them.  
  
They got off and farewells were said, friends were hugged, goodbyes were made final until the end of summer.  
  
"Mum! Dad!" Liz cried, running to them. Emma stood by, looking less thrilled. Liz ignored her.  
  
"You won't believe it, Mum, I have so much to tell you..."  
  
And with that, they passed back into the Muggle world. 


End file.
